Our Holiday in Africa 



HY 
VV. W. WHEI-n.ER 



Author of 

"Three Months in Foreign Lands" 

"A Glimpse of The Pacific Isles" 

"Encircling The Globe" 

'Discoveries in South America and West Indies. 



cop\ kighted 11112 
By W. W. VVHEELKK 



f AUP 2 5 1993 } 



n^a 



INDEX 



Page 

Outward Bound 5 

Port Said n 

Red Sea ii 

Port Sudan 13 

Aden 19 

Mombasa 21 

Uganda Railway 27 

Nairobi . 37 

Victoria Xyanza 41 

Uganda 45 

Natives 57 

Zanzibar 67 

]\Iozanibique /i 

Beira yy 

Salisbury 81 

Victoria Falls 85 

Bulawayo 95 

Kimberlv 103 

Johannesburg iii 

Durban 123 

East London 127 

Port Elizabeth 131 

Cape Town 137 

Cecil John Rhodes 145 

South African Parliament 147 

Madeira 1 53 

England 157 

Summary 163 



i 



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PREFACE 

Would yon like to travel in strange lands? If so, come 
with us and take a "Holiday in Africa," "The Dark Conti- 
nent," or "The Cnknown Continent," as it is sometimes called. 

The interior was unknown to civilized man until sixty 
years ago, and even today many vast sections have never been 
visited by white man, and in most of those parts which have 
been opened up l;)y European colonization there is but a very 
sparse settlement of whites. 

Our own people of the United States very seldom visit 
Africa. In fact, we met but one American, who was traveling 
in that country ior pleasure, so that up to the present to us it 
is really "The Unknown Continent." 

The interior is occupied Ijy a dense population of the de- 
scendants of Ham, and many of these tribes have apparently 
descended in the scale of intelligence since Ham took Africa 
for his homestead. Also, all kinds of African game, big and 
little. It is the greatest hunting ground on earth. 

We have, for a long time, had a desire to visit this great 
continent, and having an opportunity to take a holiday, my 
wife and I decided to spend it in Africa. Mrs. Wheeler has 
greatly assisted me, and to her you may ascribe all that you 
find that is good (if you find any), in this little book, and 
blame me for the rest. 

The following pages will give you a very brief report of 
some things we saw "In Darkest Africa." You will find lOO 
photographic illustrations of scenes typical of the country, 
which will also help to give you an idea of things as they 
actually appear to the traveler. 

In reading this booklet, we hope that you may feel that 
you are making the trip with us and enjoy the journey. 

Sincerely yours, 

W. W. WHEELER. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUTWARD BOUND 

January 24th, 1912, we sailed from New York on the 
superbly appointed steamsliip "Olympic," sister ship to the 
fated "Titanic." She is the greatest vessel that ever sailed 
the seas up to the present time. She cost seven and one-half 
million dollars, and has a crew of eight hundred and sixty 
men, accommodations for twenty-five hundred passengers, 
average speed is n\'er fi\'e hundred miles per day. Length 
over all, eight hundred and eighty-two feet. Think of it, over 
one-sixth of a mile, nearly as long as three of our city blocks; 
breadth, ninety-two feet ; height to the top deck, one hundred 
:md five feet, having eleven Steele decks. Lighted and heated 
by electricity, the state rooms are large and elegantly fur- 
nished. By di\dne instructions Noah built the Ark. It was 
large enough to meet requirements at that time, being five 
hundred and fift}' feet long, ninety feet wide and fifty- four 
feet high, divided into three decks. The floor space was 
less than one-sixth of the floor space of the "Olympic." Com- 
pare the two and we get an idea of the progress that has 
been made in shipping during the last four thousand years. 
We regret that we are not able to show here a photograph of 
the Ark for comparison ; we were too late to get it. The di- 
mensions of the Ark are given in the Bible; look it up and 
verify the figures. The comfort and CMiveiu'ence of ocean going 
steamers in recent years has almost eliminated time and dis- 
tance, and one can travel from an}- place to any place on the 
surface of our globe in a few months without great discom- 
fort ; and this is one reason why we are going to South Africa 
this winter. 

Africa is an immense continent with teemino- millions of 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUTWARD BOUND 

black inhabitants, many of whom have never seen the face of 
a white man. There are thousands of miles in the heart of 
this great country yet unexplored. 

We passed by, at this time, Northern Africa, that bor- 
ders on the Mediterranean Sea, which is more familiar to 
readers and many travelers. Also Western Africa and the 
interior of the Congo region, that part associated with the 
name of the great explorer, Henry M. Stanley. All that we 
could do in the short space of a four months' journey was to 
sail entirely around the great continent, about eighteen thou- 
sand miles, and go into the interior of British East and 
South Africa as far as the railroad would take us. Also we 
crossed the largest fresh water lake in the world, Victoria 
Nyanza, to Uganda. We did no caravan or walking trips, 
as those who go for shooting. 

We planned this trip and took it alone, and did exactly 
as we had planned, never missed a connection on rail or steam- 
ship; had remarkable health and enjoyed it to the fullest. 

On leaving the "Olympic" at CBterbourg, France, in the 
evening- about eight o'clock, by tender, we looked back at a 
most wonderful sight. The big ship, with all her immense 
windows ablaze with light, and reflecting the light in the 
dark water, looked like enchanted fairy land ; a sight never to 
be forgotten. 

We had a most amusing experience going through the 
little French custom house. It was very dark and the in- 
spectors only had a few dim lanterns with which to look into 
our bags and trunks. Only a form, of course, but there were 
so many people's bags to be marked, that we came very nearly 
missing our train for Paris. There were no sleeping cars, so 
we had to sit up all night, arriving in Paris on a cold winter's 
morning at four o'clock. 

The city of Paris is always interesting", but our time was 
short. We left that same evening on the train-de-luxe for 
Marseilles. This train is especially crowded at this season of 
the year — people going to the Riviere in the South of France 

7 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




OUTWARD BOUND 

for the season. Next morning we arrived at the grey old city 
of Marseilles, with its very narrow streets and high grey build- 
ings. In the midst of this city is a rocky promontory, on which 
is built a church. From there one gets a magnificent view of 
the city and harbor. In this harbor are ships coming and go- 
ing to all parts of the wcjrld. 

We rather dreaded seeing the little British steamer on 
which our seventeen days to Mombasa must be spent, and it 
was quite discouraging when on a rainy day we had our first 
look. It was so pitifully small after the magnificent Olympic 
of recent experience, it took us se\eral days to get adjusted 
to our tiny quarters, but every cloud is said to have a silver 
lining. In this case it pr< )ve(l almost gold. We have never en- 
joyed a sea trip more than that spent on the "Dunvegan Castle." 
We were the only Americans aboard and waited for our En- 
glish cousins to make the advances, which thev did most gra- 
ciously. They were delightful people — many of them, as we 
were, taking the trip for pleasure. Others going out to dif- 
ferent parts of British Africa to visit their sons and daughters. 
Many young men leaving crowded old England for the wild 
veldt lands of Africa to make their fortune. Others who had 
been home for a vacation, rejoicing- in going back to the wide 
free country. There were also a number of men in the mili- 
tary service v/ith their pretty, fresh young brides, who were 
looking forward with great enthusiasm to their future home. 

The days passed rapidly, even though the Mediterranean 
was rough and cold. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




PORT SAID 



Sailing past the DeLessnp Statue just as the sun was 
setting- gloriously over the golden sands of Egypt, we an- 
chored at the entrance of the Suez Canal, February 9th, 19 12. 
W'e went ashore in a small row boat and walked about the 
streets to see the shops, which were filled with goods from the 
Orient. This is the meeting place oi the Occident and Orient. 
The streets are well policed, which relie\ed us from being an- 
noyed by the insistance of the shop keepers. 

It took our steamer twenty-two hours to get through the 
Canal, as we were side-tracked for all the steamers we met. 
It was a pleasant experience, as we dreamily slipped along. 
At some places the Canal is very narrow% and again widens 
into two big lakes. A unique condition exists here. The ir- 
rigated land of the Nile comes down to the Canal on the west 
side, and everything is l3eautiful and green. The other side 
has no irrigation, and no water, and the whole country is a 
sandy desert. 

After coaling last night at Port Said, our captain found 
he could not start the steamer. While she only draws twenty- 
five feet of water, yet she was stuck fast on a sand bar. After 
two hours of effort the captain called a tug, and with this 
assistance we were floated without damage to the vessel. 



RED SEA 



After getting out of the Canal, going South, with a short 
stop at Suez, we sailed through an arm of the Red Sea, at 
least one hundred miles long and one to ten miles wide. This 
is, without doubt, that part of the Red Sea where the Lord 
took the children of Israel across on dry land, and when the 
Egyptian army essayed to follow, were engulfed in the re- 

II 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




«•• v"^ 




4^k 



PORT SUDAN 

turning waters. We were in sight of Mt. Sinai for nearly half 
a day. A German Baroness, a fellow traveler, tells us that 
she had been to the top of Alt. Sinai three years ago. She 
says there are steps cut in the rocks in places, making it less 
difficult to ascend, although the height is about seven thousand 
and five hundred feet. These steps were cut by order of the 
Czar, two centuries ago. 

The Arabian coast is bleak and barren for a long distance 
south of Mt. Sinai. We are not surprised that the children of 
Israel murniured at Aloses and wanted to turn back to Egypt. 
Arabia is still a l^arren wilderness and an army of six hun- 
dred thousand could not l)e marched through that country now 
for forty years, without being fed by the Lord. 

As soon as we get through the Suez Canal, it may be said 
that we are in the far East. The people are Arabians, Egyp- 
tians, East Indians, or almost an}' other nationality except the 
Chinese or Japanese. \Vhile the ports where we land are En- 
glish possessions, there are only a few Englishmen, and the 
spoken language may be Aral)ic or any other foreign tongue, 
so far as we know, as we do not understand a word of it. 

After two days sail on tlie calm Red Sea, which is always 
warm enough and usual)}' much too hot for comfort, we ar- 
rived at Port Sudan. 



PORT SUDAN 



Several of our most pleasant and agreeable passengers 
are leaving lis at this place, on their way to Khartum, by rail. 
This is the only port on the western side of the Red Sea of any 
importance, and may, at some time, be a place of much ship- 
ping. Since the English ha\'e made their army headquarters 
at Khartum tliey have for their convenience built a railway 
from Port Sudan to Berber on the Nile. This will enable 

13 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 






OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




PORT SUDAN 

them to transport their supphes with a railway haul of about 
two or three hundred miles from the Sea. Otherwise they 
would have to transport by rail from Alexandria, Egypt, for 
about a thousand miles. 

The English have spent a large amount of money at Port 
Sudan, building a break-water, dredging out the harbor and 
building substantial stone docks and warehouses. There is 
a coaling station here with great quantities of coal stored. The 
finest and best over-head tramway that we have ever seen for 
handling coal from ships to the various parts of the yard. 
There are railway tracks all along the extensive docks with 
heavy power cranes for loading and unloading all kinds of 
merchandise. The town is only six years old and has made a 
start toward making a city, having large stone buildings used 
for court houses, churches, hotels and railway offices. The 
residences are of wood, raised several feet above the ground, 
with wide porches screened to protect from flies (which are 
very bad here) and the roofs built with an open air space for 
circulation, which makes them ideal for a tropical climate. 
However, with all this building there is not much business, the 
only thing we saw on the dock for export was peanuts. At 
some time in the future another dam may be built on the Nile 
below Khartum, making the water available for irrigation on 
the land along this new railway. In that case Port Sudan will 
be an important city. This would be a very important coaling 
station for England, if in time of war, the Suez Canal should 
be blockaded. Such a condition is remote, but the English- 
man is always getting ready for war, and that no doubt pre- 
vents it. 

The Red Sea is a great highway for steamers between the 
far East and Europe. We have passed fifteen today. For 
two hours we were in water that was a bright red brick color. 
Probablv this is the reason for the name of Red Sea. We 
passed quite close to an Italian man-of-war, evidently looking 
for Turkish vessels. The Italians have blockaded several 
ports on the Arabian side. 

17 



Ol'R HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 





MAIN STREET— ADEN. 



ADEN 



On dropping- the anchor at Aden at eight o'clock in the 
evening we were surrounded by a swarm of native boats, each 
having a lantern, making rather a weird scene, as the night 
was very dark. The native traders came aboard to sell their 
oriental stuff. It is very amusing to see people bargaining. 

Aden is an English port, so situated as to command the 
channel and stop any vessel they choose. Almost no rain falls, 
and the drinking \\ater is brought here and peddled through 
the city by Arabs driving camels hitched to small wagons. 
There are some large concrete tanks near the city, which if 
filled, would enable the place to stand a long siege. It is such 
a God-forsaken place that the English soldiers are glad to be 
transferred to some other port as soon as possible. The next 
morning, after leaving Ackn, we noticed an Italian battleship 
about two miles off our port side, and with glasses could see 
that she had boarded a small Arabian vessel. Evidently was 
suspicious of the cargo and halted her for examination. 

Our steamer did not stop to make inquiries, as it was 
none of our business what was being done. If the Italian bat- 
tle ships search every suspicious looking craft passing through 
these waters, with a view of preventing Turkey from getting 
arms and ammunition for their army at Tripoli, we shall not 
interfere. 

On February i6, 191 2, early in the morning, we rounded 
Cape Guardafui, the most eastern point of Africa, and will now 
sail along the eastern coast about fifteen hundred miles to 
Mombasa. The Indian Ocean has the calm, unruffled look of 
the tropical seas, with not enough wind to cause the slightest 
motion of our vessel. The weather is certainly hot, but mak- 
ing headway stirs up a little breeze that makes it comfortable 
when on deck. 



19 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




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MOMBASA 



The East African Coast has been known to ancient geog- 
raphers for centuries before the Christian Era. Marco Polo, 
the famous Venetian traveler, visited Mombasa, but it was 
Vasco Da Gama that took Mombasa in 1498 for the Portu- 
g-uese. At one time a Turkish corsair luiilt a fort at the end 
of Mombasa Island, which faces the sea. 

Today the old fort is covered with vines and very pict- 
uresque. At the summit of the fort one sees the double en- 
trance to the ALjmljasa harbor. 

Very beautifully situated is this ancient African city. It 
is on a small island, at present connected with the main land by 
a steel railroad bridge seventeen hundred feet long. 

Mombasa, in her earl_y career, was the scene of many 
bloody battles and long sieges. It was captured by the Portu- 
guese four hundred years ago, and their old fortress built of 
stone, is still solid and strong and is now used as a jail for 
native prisoners by the English. The town lies on the east 
side of the island and along its front is the old Mombasa har- 
bor, filled with native Dhows, or small sailing vessels, with 
high stern and prow, reminding us of the style of ships used 
by Columbus when he discovered America. These small sail- 
ing craft still do most of the business along this coast. Some 
of them even sailing as far as India, carrying produce. This 
old harbor is also used by small steamers, as the custom house 
is located here, but the larger vessels, which draw more than 
twenty feet of water, anchor in the new harbor called Klinin- 
dini. On the west side of the island, at this latter harbor, 
most of the material for the army and the Uganda Railway is 
unloaded. There are good docks and heavy steam cranes for 
convenience in loading and unloading vessels. 

^^'hen the English took charge of this country they forced 
the Sultan to abolish slavery. We are told by the residents 

21 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




MOMBASA 

that in slavery times agriculture was carried on much more ex- 
tensively than at present. In those days when the natives were 
compelled to work, mealies, or corn, was actually exported 
from Mombasa to New York, but now the natives will not 
work and the fields are overgrown by weeds. At present the 
exports from this puint are ivory and hides. However, if 
cotton and coffee growing is greatly increased, as the En- 
glish anticipate, Mombasa may at some future time, become an 
important exporting place. 

The modern town of Mombasa is a very pretty place. 
The old Arab and native quarter extends inland. The center 
portion of the town are shops and government offices, and on 
the high ground facing the Indian Ocean are built the bunga- 
lows of the government officials and Europeans. These resi- 
dences are surrounded by gardens with beautiful blooming 
oleanders and other shrubs. Being only four degrees south 
of the equator, it has the reputation of being one of the hottest 
places on earth, and we think that it has justly earned that 
reputation. There is an ice manufacturing plant here, and 
they sell it at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars a ton. 
How some of our American artesian ice companies would like 
to get at this ice market for about one season. The main trou- 
ble is, that there are so few whites in Mombasa, that the de- 
mand is small, and a ten-pound chunk would be a large quan- 
tity for a hotel to buy. Once the proprietor of the Metropole 
Hotel of Mombasa gave me a piece of ice about the size of a 
silver dollar, in a glass of water. 

The city has a unique trolley car system, very light rails 
with two feet gauge; the cars have a small platform with a 
seat for four people and a canopy overhead, and pushed by 
two natives. This will serve to illustrate how cheap labor is 
in this part of the world. It is more profitable to run small 
cars by man power than any other way. Nearly every house- 
holder here owns their little trolley car and have a private 
switch track running into their own grounds. This makes a 

25 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA RAILWAY 

very convenient way of getting about, as the tracks are laid 
in nearly all these streets. 

The Calibash, or Baobab tree is also one of the things 
peculiar to Mombasa. It has an immense trunk, frequently 
ten or twelve feet in diameter. This huge bulk of trunk grows 
not more than twenty-five feet high with many thick, heavy 
branches, and scarcely any leaves, and has a scarlet blossom. 

One afternoon about five o'clock, when the intense heat 
liad subsided, we took a trolley car to the custom's wharf. 
After some dickering, the native boatsman agreed on the 
price, two rupees, to take us two miles across the bay to Frere- 
town, where the Reverand Doctor Binns, has, for nearly forty 
years, conducted a church mission and school. 

They have a church building of stone, and other buildings 
for different school grades, also where carpentry and differ- 
ent trades are taught, all together making quite a town in a 
pleasant, shady, cocoanut grove. 

Dr. Binns' life has been spent here. He is an old man 
but still hale and hearty, and good for years of service in this 
ereat cause. 



UGANDA RAILWAY 

The Uganda Railway starts from Mombasa and runs five 
hundred and eighty-four miles to Victoria Nyanza. This line 
was built by the English Government at the cost of twenty-two 
million dollars, and completed ten years ago. The gauge is 
four feet with good heavy rails and iron ties, the track well 
graded and ballasted. The rolling stock is small light cars, 
but those used for freight are built of iron throughout. 

The passenger coaches are small compartment cars, the 
compartments seating four persons each, and having a shelf 
that lets down to form a sleeping berth. The passengers must 

27 



OUR flOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




UGANDA RAILWAY 

furnish their own bed clothing and towels, and there are no 
porters to make up the beds or roll up the bed clothing in the 
morning. Many passengers take a native servant along to do 
this work. 

The engines used on this road were built Ijy the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works of New Jersey, and the iron bridges, wdiich 
are very few, were built by an American company. The ob- 
stacles in building this line were great, not the least of which 
were the "white ants," which eat almost everything, including 
railway ties. At the time the railroad was building the lions, 
leopards and buffalos were very troublesome. At Tsavo Sta- 
tion, there were twenty-eight natives carried away and eaten by 
the lions, all of which demoralized the working force to such 
an extent that they deserted the work at this point. At last 
the manager. Colonel Patterson, built a cage for himself and 
watched for the lions at night until he killed the tw'O ferocious 
animals, and then the natives resumed their work. Also the 
annoyance was great from the natives who insisted on stealing 
the telegraph wdre. They wished to use it as bracelets for 
their arms and legs. The railroad officers warned the Chief 
of the tribes that they must let the wares alone, but the tempta- 
tion was so great that the stealing continued until war was de- 
clared and some lives lost. 

There is no coal in this part of Africa and the locomotive 
burns wood. The engineers on these trains are East Indians, 
who have proved themselves to be very good men in the rail- 
way service. The officers of the road, of course, are mostly 
Englishmen. The station masters, or clerks, are usually East 
Indians and are quite accommodating. To illustrate, an En- 
glish passenger on our train had a small dog wdiich he was 
taking along, and just as the train started from one of the 
country stations the dog saw a flock of goats a quarter of a 
mile distant, and instead of jumping on the train with his mas- 
ter, he took a run for the goats. The Englishman shouted to 
the engineer to "wait a minute." and off he went with his na- 

29 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




UGANDA RAILWAY 

tive servant after the "blooming little clog." who chased the 
goats and was brought back and put on the train, and then the 
train started. 

In connection with the Uganda Railway the government 
runs a line of steamers on Victoria Nyanza. There are five 
of these steamers at present on this lake, and each of them were 
built and set up cijmplete in England, then were taken to pieces 
and each piece numbered and shipped by water to Mombasa, 
then by rail over the Uganda Railway to the lake, where they 
were put together again, all of which was quite an undertaking. 
The first steamer, however, was brought out before the rail- 
way was built, and all of the pieces were carried on the heads 
of natives from Mombasa to the lake. Many of the pieces 
were thrown away by the natives and had to be replaced. It 
took eight years getting this first steamer in running order. 
This railway and these steamboats were put in service by the 
English government, not as a paying investment, Ijut because 
it was necessary to hold this country for England. They have 
so developed the country that the traffic now pays the running 
expenses, and a fair profit on the investment. 

The transportation to Victoria Nyanza from the coast was 
almost impossible before the railway was built. Everything 
was carried six hundred miles by the natives and the actual 
cost was one thousand dollars per ton. 

On leaving Mombasa for the interior by rail, the first few 
miles of the country have l)een improved by the planters and 
looked very well, but after that the soil is poor and rough with 
only the thornv acacia shrub and sharp spiked aloes. Then 
we come to the plains with the long grass where w^hite people 
can live and farm. This section, on both sides of the track, 
is set apart by the government as a game reservation, and here 
is to be seen more game than in any other part of the world. 
These animals very soon learn that they are not molested and 
become quite tanie. Many of them grazing near the track do 
not run awav when the train approaches, while others run a 
few yards and stop with heads up. In a half a day we saw 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA RAILWAY 

at least a thousand head of game, most of which were of the 
antelope family. There were beautiful little Thomson ga- 
zells, and still more beautiful Grant's gazells, with a broad 
black strip along each side. The big wielde beast, called "gnu" 
in the old geog'raphies, looks much like the wild buffalo, and 
some of them weigh seven hundred pounds or more. We also 
saw many zebra, eland and great numbers of ostriches, im- 
mense birds, almost as large as horses, all grazing peacefully 
together. We were disappointed that we did not see giraffe; 
they had not come down from the high pastures. We did not 
see any lions or leopards, as they usually skulk along in ra- 
vines and high grass. There are many lions through this 
game reservation, and recently a passenger saw nine in one 
bunch from a car window. We were detained four hours by a 
wash-out near Athi River Station, and only last week a hunter 
found three lions not more than three hundred yards from 
this station. He followed them and killed two. 

When the road was first built the lions were much more 
troublesome than they are now. At that time a lion went 
prowling around one of the stations in daylight and drove all 
the employees into the telegraph office, where they barricaded 
the doors. The operator then wired the next station, "Don't 
let number four stop here, a lion is sitting on the platform." 
Recently two hunters were about to camp beside the road 
for the night, when a man with an ox team passing told them 
he had seen two lions near the road about a half mile back. 
One of the hunters said, "I am going to see if I can get a shot 
at them." The other said, "It is g'etting too late." Neverthe- 
less, the first man went to look for them alone. He soon saw 
them about one hundred yards distant ; taking- aim, fired, 
wounding the female ; another shot, and he missed her. By this 
time the Lioness was upon him. The horse was paralyzed with 
fear and would not move. The lioness pulled the hunter off 
his horse ; the man rammed his left arm into her throat, and 
the unequal fight began.. Fortunately, another ox team hap- 
pened along. The driver had no gun, but he ran to the hunter's 

33 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA RAILWAY 

assistance, with his long whip dealt the lioness a few heavy 
blows, which caused her to give up the fight and run off. The 
hunter was so badly lacerated that he died a few days after- 
ward. 

Major Gordon, a retired army officer, who came back on 
the ship with us from Cape Town, owns a large cattle ranch 
two hundred and fifty miles north of Victoria Falls in Rho- 
desia, not far from the Congo line. Usually he rounds his cat- 
tle up in a paddock at night, to avoid trouble with lions and 
leopards. Recently six lions raided his cattle paddock. 
Something had to be done to drive the ugly beasts away. Ac- 
cordingly he started out on horseback the next day to hunt 
them. A few hours later he came in sight of five lions in one 
l)unch. One was a tremendous big fellow with a black, shaggy 
mane. The Major immediately decided to get this big one, 
the leader of the gang\ if possible. While the lion was leis- 
urely making his way toward a bunch of brush, the Major 
made a circuit and intercepted him. As soon as the lion saw 
him, he charged for horse and rider. The critical time had 
come. The Major held his gun as steady as possible, as his 
horse was very restless, and when the lion was about five 
yards distant, fired from the horse's back. Extraordinary as 
it seems, the shot went true and entered the head about an 
inch below the eye, and killed the lion. The Major had the 
skin with him and exhibited it to us. It was the largest lion 
skin we have e^'er seen, ten feet from tip of nose to tip of tail — 
a great trophy. 



35 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




ill 







NAIROBI 



Nairobi is the capital of British East Africa and is a rap- 
idly growing" town made by the raihvay. It is situated on a 
level plain, five thousand feet above sea level, almost under 
the ecjuator. It has a population of one thousand whites and 
fifteen thousand blacks. The business buildings are located 
on what is called "Government Road," which is about a mile 
and one-half long, w-ell paved and has a row of Eucalyptus 
trees on each side. It is most picturescjue with its swarming 
humanity. One sees natives representing all the different tribes 
of East Africa in their state of dress and undress, loaded down 
with beads, copper wire bracelets, anklets, shields and spears. 
On this street are the outfitters for the hunters, and it is here 
that the natives are hired as porters, to carry the camping out- 
fit. There are very few horses and mules here and the usual 
mode of conveyance is by Rickshaw. These are not so light 
and easy running as those in Japan, but have heavy wheels and 
carrv two persons, with two natives to push and one to pull. 
The nights are rather cold, but the midday sun is very hot. To 
us, after one clay out of the sweltering heat of Mombasa, it 
seemed delightful. If we w^ere to select this part of the world 
as a permanent place of residence, which we do not anticipate, 
we should certainly live in Nairobi. The courts and other gov- 
ernment business is now transacted in one-story sheet iron 
houses, but this will all be changed in a few years. Some beau- 
tiful bungalows have been built in the suburbs, with handsome 
gardens. 

The growing of fruits has not yet progressed far enough 
to decide what is best suited to this climate, but most tropical 
fruits will do w^ell. Corn and wheat are raised in this section 
in a small way. 

Nairobi is a great center for big game hunting, and most 
of the hunting parties, or Safari, as they are called in this coun- 
try, are made up here. If you were to come out to Africa to 

37 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




NAIROBI 

lumt or to "shoot," as they say, you would come to this place 
and hire one hundred porters to carry your camping outfit. 
Also gun bearers and cooks. To each porter you would have 
to give a blanket. Then go marching to those places where it 
is reported plenty of game is to be found. First you must get 
a hunter's license, which will cost two hundred and fifty dollars 
and allows you to hunt outside of the game reservations, for 
one year, and limits you to two elephants, twenty zebras, two 
buffalos and no giraffe, and many other variety of animals, 
limited to two; and you may kill as many lions and leopards 
as you can. After you have made all preparations you are 
still not sure of success. A hunter wdth a friend had been out 
for some time wnth a large number of porters, and all things 
needed, and had really gotten almost nothing. They saw three 
herds of elephants and were near enough to photograph them, 
but did not kill any. It is not encouraging when it is raining 
every day and one is tramping through the wet grass and sleep- 
ing in a wet camp, to get no game. On the other hand, we 
were informed that recently Mr. Paul J. Rainey, an American 
hunter, brought with him a pack of hounds, and with their as- 
sistance, killed sixty lions in a few weeks. Lion skins of good 
qualitv sell here for fifty dollars each. 

We left Nairobi for Uganda on February 24, 191 2, and 
found the railway trip most interesting. Anticipating a cold 
night, we took a large roll of blankets and wraps, all of which 
we used and w^ere still uncomfortably cold, although just under 
the equator. There are a good many white settlers on farms 
along this part of the road. In fact, more farming is done 
on this northwestern end of the road than we have seen else- 
where. We crossed the great Rift Valley in daylight. This is 
a crack in the earth's surface, two thousand feet deep, and 
from one to twenty miles wdde. It is said to be two thousand 
miles long, running north and south through the central part 
of the continent. It is a very extraordinary freak of nature, 
supposed to be caused by the earth's cooling. There are sev- 

39 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




NAIROBI 

eral lakes along different places in this valley, some of them 
sweet and others salt. The land lies in fine shape for farming 
in this Rift Valley and is nearly all fenced up. It is used as 
grazing land for cattle and sheep, as the rains are too uncertain 
for agriculture. Often no rain falls in this valley for four 
months. 



VICTORIA NYANZA 

We reached Port Florence on Victoria Nyanza early in 
the morning and at once went aboard the steamer "Sir Clement 
Hill" — carrying capacity, two hundred and fifty tons; length, 
two hundred and twenty feet, for a six days sail, on this, the 
greatest body of fresh water in the world — area, 32,165 square 
miles; Lake Superior being next with an area of 31,750 square 
miles. This lake is the source of the Nile, for thousands of 
years hidden from the sight of white man, and only discovered 
about fifty years ago by the explorer Speke. It is three thou- 
sand six hundred feet above sea level. Over the Ripon Falls, 
it pours out its tremendous volume of water to feed the desert 
lands along this great river for three thousand miles to the 
Mediterranean. This is where the fatal sleeping sickness has 
carried off two hundred thousand natives in ten years. After 
investigation, it has been decided by the scientific men that this 
sleeping sickness is caused by the bite of the Tsetse Fly, which 
infest the many islands and shores of this great lake. Ac- 
cordingly, the English government has, by force, removed the 
natives two miles back from the lake shore, and taken them en- 
tirely off the islands. It is supposed that this wholesale remov- 
al has saved the lives of the remainder of the Baganda Tribe, 

41 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




VICTORIA NYANZA 

who inhaljit this region. 1liey could not nnderstand the reason 
for their removal and continued to run back to the islands until 
finally the government officials were compelled to burn their 
boats. These shores and islands are covered with beautiful 
trees, luxuriant vegetation, and looked very inviting as we 
passed along. There are hundreds of these islands in the lake, 
some of them cjuite large, and nearly all have been inhabited. 
The adjacent shores, wdiere the towns are situated and where 
our landings were made, have been cleared of jungle. All trees 
near the water have been cut down, and the Tsetse Fly is not 
doing as great havoc as formerly. The Tsetse Fly will not 
live except in deep shade and near the water. The mosquitoes 
are also very troublesome on this lake, and particularly on the 
shallow shores at the landing places. 

When we anchored for the night we were extracMTlinarilv 
careful to use good mosquito net at night and ha\e it well 
tucked in. The ecjuator crosses this lake near the north shore 
and the line dividing the British and German territory, passes 
nearly through the middle of the lake. The southern part of 
the lake belongs to Germany. There are several small tov/ns 
alons" their shores. 



43 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




UGANDA 



Our first stop was at Entebbe, the residence capital of 
Uganda. It is Ijeatitifully situated on the hills rising" from the 
lake and it is there that the Governor and officials live. The 
government house is on the highest point, surrounded by lovely 
gardens. The many bungalows are very attractive, with the 
settings of their gardens of tropical flowers and overlooking 
the lake. The English take the greatest interest in their gar- 
dens, both flower and vegetable. On the steamer we met a 
government official and his family, who lived at Entebbe. 
They asked us to dinner at their home. We accepted and had 
a delightful time and an excellent dinner. They were charm- 
ing and agreeable, and their bungalow was most attractive. 
The bungalow is built of brick and plastered over. The floor, 
cement, painted a brown color and polished like hard wood, 
which keeps out all insects. The furniture is covered with 
chintz in brigiit colors, and the rugs are leopard and lion, 
or any other skin shot by the host. They don't bu}^ the skins, 
but shoot the game themselves. One lady hunter said, 'T 
should not think you would want skins you did not shoot for 
yourself." Our reply was that we would certainly never have 
any if we had to kill the beast. She seemed surprised at the 
statement. She and her husband and son have been out for 
three months on "Safari," but the son was taken with appen- 
dicitis in the bush. Fortunately, they got into a little town 
where there were two doctors who pulled him through with- 
out an operation. 

From Entebbe, our next stop was Kampala. It is the 
headquarters of the police, or as we would call it, state militia. 
The business is done by East Indians. 

Kampala is built on seven hills. The soil is very fertile; 
coffee, cotton, and some rubber is raised, and bananas every- 
where. On one of the hills the native King of Uganda lives. 

45 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




^M 



UGANDA 

His residence is enclosed by many reed fences. On another 
hill is the mission of the White Fathers, or French Catholics. 
On another is the church of England Mission, with its large 
three-steepled cathedral and fine hospital. On the summit of 
another hill is Saint Joseph, or Nsambya Mission, English 
Catholics. Tliis is the one we visited, as we wanted to see a 
fine coffee plantation. On another hill is the government of- 
ficial's residence, and the old fort has a hill to itself. 

Kampala is situated seven miles from the lake on a good 
macadamized road, and we made the distance by Rickshaw in 
one hour. The four natives we had to pull and push our Rich- 
shaw were good strong fellows and sang nearly all the way. 
We were told they were singing our praises, calling me the 
greatest and strongest "Bwana" (a great man) that ever lived, 
and Mrs. Wheeler, "the beautiful lady." Apparently they 
sang" this same verse over several hundred times. 

Uganda country, on this side of the lake, is undulating and 
beautiful. Most of the land is planted with bananas, and a 
small part with sweet potatoes. The banana is the main food 
of the people here. It ripens at all seasons of the year, so 
that the natives have it ready for use continually. The banana 
grows about three times as large as those we get in America, 
and the quality is excellent. There are many varieties, but 
they must be cooked before they are fit to eat. 

We were advised to go out and see the Catholic Father's 
coffee plantation and mission, which we did, and they treated 
us most cordially. Father Proctor is in charge and took us 
over the plantation of about six hundred acres. They are ex- 
tensively engaged in raising bananas and coffee, and trying to 
raise cocoa, but have not made much headway with the latter, 
as yet. The coffee trees are l)eautiful and promise an abundant 
harvest. 

47 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA 

The Sisters have a school with over three hundred black 
children and a hospital where the natives are treated. The 
children come from great distances, bringing their food, living 
in the little rest houses built of thatch, from Monday until 
Friday, and then return to their native village. These devoted 
Christian workers have been here from ten to fourteen years, 
and do not find it necessary to return to England to recuper- 
ate their health. This leads us to think that if other mission- 
aries, as well as individuals, in the service of the government, 
were as careful as these good people, it would not be necessary 
for them to have a furlough for the benefit of their health. 

The Mission buildings are built of cement, all roofed with 
thatch, like that used for the native buildings here. It makes 
a waterproof roof and much cooler than any other kind. 

The prevalence of wild game in this country may be il- 
lustrated by the fact that the good Sisters of this mission have 
(juite recently been annoyed 1)y the nightly visits of a leopard, 
which comes into the compound and makes much noise barking 
and growling. One of the natives has been trying to shoot it 
with a bow and arrow. They are not allowed to have guns 
of any kind, and the leopard still makes his nightly visits. 
There are many elephants and buffak^es in Uganda. They 
are so numerous that they damage the crops. No doubt the 
government will soon give permission to kill as many as they 
wish, otherwise the farmers will be driven out of business. 

There is a large cotton gin in Kampala, which is doing a 
good business at present. We saw seventeen wagon loads of 
cotton from the landing to the gin. These wagons are all 
pulled and pushed by from six to ten native men. The mer- 
chants here are East Indians. They are said to be dishonest 
and tricky and a detriment to the country, but the natives have 
not, as yet, developed so as to become merchants. These East 
Indians carry in their little shops a small assortment of such 

49 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA 

things as a native needs. A\'e noticed American made brown 
cotton and prints in their stock. These American made goods 
are preferred to any other. Their stores are one story cor- 
rugated iron shacks, called tin houses. ^Jdiere are only a few 
brick buildings. 

Uganda seems to be well adapted to raising coffee and 
cotton. At present cotton has much the largest acreage, and 
every steamer that crosses the lake to the railway is loaded 
with it. The prospects are, that in a few years, this will be- 
come one of the most important cotton growing countries in 
the world, outside of the United States. The freights are 
about three cents a pound to England, but the labor is very 
cheap, only two or three rupees (a dollar) a month. 

We made our last stop at Jinja, before returning to Port 
Florence. The point of interest to us at that place was Ripon 
Falls, the source of the Nile, which has been seen by only a 
few white people. The actual fall is not more than thirty feet 
at the dam and the volume of water does not compare with 
our Niagara Falls. The lake narrows here to a few hundred 
yards. The magnificent view of this river, stretching awa}^ 
to the north amid enchanting scenery, is most impressive. One 
can well imagine how elated the explorer Speke must have 
felt when, after enduring countless hardships, he at last looked 
upon and solved one of the great mysteries of the ancients, 
"the source of the Nile." The channel where this fall makes 
its way out of the lake has abrupt banks about one hundred 
feet high, and nature has built a rock dam across this channel, 
about twelve hundred feet long, forty feet high and thirty 
feet thick. The strata of rock is set upon the edge, and at 
first sight looks as though it was built by man. It is so reg- 
ular and straight. The water has broken through this natural 
dam in three places. At present there is not much need of 
electric power, but if this country develops, as is expected, in 
a few years a great electric power plant will no doubt be 

5f 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA 

erected, and abundant power furnished for all purposes, in all 
directions for many miles. 

There is a newly built railroad from this place, Jinja, 
sixty-one miles down the Nile, to the place where the river 
becomes navigable, and on this part of the Nile the English 
government has a small steamer, making a run of about one 
hundred and fift}- miles. The engineer of this steamer came 
out with us on the Dunvegan Castle, after being home on a 
furlough. He has been in this country several years and tells 
us that his boat has more cotton, coffee and peanuts than it 
can carry, and that the government will soon put on another 
steamer. Some people already go down the Nile by this route 
via Khartum to the Mediterranean. 

In order to do this one would take the railway from Jinja 
for sixty-one miles, the-n the small steamer above mentioned 
for about one hundred and fifty miles to a point wdiere the 
Nile is too rocky and swift for navigation. Along this part 
of the river for three hundred miles the traveler would have 
to walk, or to be carried in a hammock. The walking is not 
very good in this section, and it takes about thirty days to do 
this. The water is scarce and the heat very great. The flies, 
moscjuitoes, elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros, hippottami, lions, 
leopards, antelopes and many insects abound here. After 
doing the walking, the river steamers and railways would take 
one through Kh.artum and all the way down the Nile to the 
Mediterranean. Every year there are parties who do this trip, 
and some of them women. We had, before leaving home, 
thought of doing this trip, and wrote to Thomas Cook & Son, 
of London, inquiring about it, but they replied that on account 
of the three hundred miles of w-alking, it was not practical. 

On landing at Jinja there is a large sign reading in En- 
glish, "To Ripon Falls." \\'e took a Rickshaw\ propelled by 
three lustv natives, pointed to the sign board and told them to 

53 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




UGANDA 

take ns to the falls. They started in the right direction, and 
we supposed it was understood where we wanted to go. We 
had been told it was only about fifteen minutes' walk. Our 
Rickshaw men took us through the pretty little tin town of 
Jinja and out in the country on a well graded and mecadam- 
ized road, through fields of bananas, which were in a fine 
state of cultivation, and every few hundred yards would be 
found a small native village nestling among the banana trees. 
One peculiar thing aljout all these natives of Central Africa is, 
that they build their huts and villages as far as possible out of 
sight, so that one might travel for days through a thickly set- 
tled partion of Africa and see almost no habitation. Quite 
likely, this idea of building their huts and villages in secreted 
places w'as brought about by the continual w^arfare among the 
tribes. In several places we passed one hundred or more na- 
tive men resting^ in the shade of large trees. They had car- 
ried cotton from the country, fifty or sixty miles, and were 
now returning- to their homes. All this was very pretty and 
interesting, but we wanted to get to the falls. After trotting 
along- about an hour w-e asked the leader where he was taking 
us. He pointed ahead, mumbling his language. However, 
after traveling several miles more we decided we were lost in 
Uganda. At last, we made our Rickshaw team turn back to 
the town and found the falls beyond the hills, in another direc- 
tion. It w^as after five o'clock in the afternoon when we 
reached the falls, and taking photographs so late in the day is 
not usually successful. We returned to the steamer and are 
sailing across the Victoria Nyanza to Port Florence on our 
wav to the coast, after having penetrated into the "Heart of 
Africa" for nearly one thousand miles from the sea. 

Our little steamer has been quite comfortable ; the food 
better than we anticipated, and we have greatly enjoyed the 
trip, as every day has brought something new and strange, and 
showed us the manner of living of these people of interior 
Africa. 

55 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




NATIVES 

Today, we noticed on the horizon, several clouds, which 
at a distance resembled clouds of smoke arising from forest 
fires. The captain told us they were small flies or lake gnats. 
Sometimes the steamer is enveloped by these clouds and they 
make life miserable for the time being, as they get into every- 
thing. We are told that the natives eat them, but they eat al- 
most anything. 

The scenery on the Uganda railway from Victoria Nyanza 
to Nairobi is fine. The first fifty miles after leaving the lake 
the railway climbs to the summit of the mountain, eight thou- 
sand three hundred and twenty feet. We enjoyed this mag- 
nificent scenery without discomfort, as the recent rains had 
laid the dust. On the top of the mountain is a wide plateau 
of fine undulating farm lands, all taken up by white settlers, 
and many lieautiful homes are to be seen. This is almost un- 
der the ecjuator, but with the high altitude the air is bracing 
and invigorating. Almost everything that grows in the tem- 
perate zone does well on this plateau. 



NATIVES 



We will tell you of the different native tribes in our 
"Heart of Africa" trip. The Swahali of the coast, the Massai, 
who are the herders of cattle, and the warlike tribe, the Ki- 
kuyus, who work in the fields, and the Somalis, who are the 
house boys and gun bearers, and the Kovorondo, that w^ear no 
clothing. The tribes have nothing to do with each other, and 
each have their own distinct characteristics. The Baganda, 
in Uganda, are more civilized and better W'Orkers than any of 
the other triljes. The older women in all of these tribes do 
most of the work, and it is usually well done, in Uganda, as 

57 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




KIKUYU BELLE 
Notice the lobe of her ear — over two inches in diameter. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




NATIVE KIKUYU DANDY— Notice the ear lobe is stretched out large 
enough to take in a three-inch block of wood. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




LIKHYU WOMAN LOADED BEYOND HER STRENGTH 
An object of pity. 



NATIVES 

the fields of bananas and sweet potatoes are free from weeds. 
These Uganda natives were wearing some clothing when the 
white man discovered them. One of the characteristics of the 
Kikuyu tribe is the disfiguring of their ears. They stretch 
the lobe of the ears so that the hole w'ill take in a small fruit 
can or a block of wood three inches in diameter, and they 
slit the rim of their ears and put in three sticks, like a lead 
pencil, through the upper part of each ear. 

To add to the general effect, they take red earth, mixed 
with oil, and scrub it into their wool and smear their entire 
faces and bodies with it, until they look about the color of a 
chestnut sorrel colt. Many of them wear strings of beads, 
and a piece of cotton cloth draped over one shoulder to their 
knees. The Kovorondo, located on the east side of Victoria 
Nyanza, usually wear no clothing of any kind, having only 
coils of iron and brass wire around their legs and arms. Both 
the Samolis and Masai have fine physical appearance. The 
Samoli are Mohammedans, and horsemen; the Masai are cat- 
tle herders, who do their work, as they did their fighting, on 
foot, and are a very martial t}'pe. These tribes are much like 
little children, who hardly know right from wrong, and will 
follow their tribal chief and do as he commands. As a gen- 
eral rule, they have very little conception of morality or hon- 
esty, until taught by the white man. They have very little 
gratitude, small regard for their children, and none for their 
parents or relatives when sick. Sometimes they throw their 
sick relatives out of their huts to die, and leave their bodies to 
be devoured by wild animals. Still more horrible to relate, 
after death from sickness or other cause, some of them cook 
and eat their own relatives. They ha\'e no conception of God, 
unless their regard for witchcraft should be so considered. 
They do not worship idols, or have any other form of worship. 

There are many self-sacrificing missionaries in this coun- 
try, trying to teach and elevate these people. We believe that 
they are doing noble work, but the improvement is so slow 
that it must be very discouraging. Many times these natives 

6i 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 







EAST COAST 

claim to believe in God, when they really have no conception 
of a Divine Being. There are many white residents of Africa 
who claim that the missionaries are doing no good, and that 
their converts are simply converts to get what they can from 
the missionary. It will, no donbt, be admitted by most of the 
thinking Christian people, that it is a problem as to what is 
best to do for these, the lowest order of humanity. The ma- 
jority of opinion by Christian people living in Africa is that 
it would be better to have the missionaries teach the natives to 
work, rather than reading and writing, and doing at all times 
all things possible to open their minds to the Gospel, by 
preaching and teaching that there is one God Almighty, and 
that Jesus Christ died to save all that truly believe in Him. 



DOWN THE EAST COAST 

After waiting at Mombasa for several days we took a 
small steamer, belonging to the British India line, bound down 
the east coast of Africa with a cargo of rice from Bombay. 
We sailed out of Mombasa harbor at sunset and our last view 
of the island, with its mellow tinted houses nestled in greenery, 
with the blue sea for a setting, was a beautiful sight. 



63 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




H 

CO 

H 

H 

< 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 



5m* 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




ZANZIBAR 



In the early dawn of the da}', after leaving Mombasa, on 
looking out of the cabin window, we saw, close at hand, the 
island of Zanzibar, rising out of the blue sea, outlined in beau- 
tiful greens of the waving palms. We were rowed ashore in 
a native boat in the cool of the morning. The ancient Arab 
city, with its narrow lanes, or streets, winding in and out be- 
tween the high white walls of the houses, looking very oriental. 
With a guide, we visited the market place, the bazaar where 
the cross-legged Hindu sits in his little shop (which is a hole 
in the wall) with expressionless face. We went to the Africa 
Hotel for breakfast (which was not very good), and were 
taken to the top floor. In climbing the two flights of stairs, 
which were of stone, we noticed the steps were worn half 
down. It must have taken a century to wear these stone steps 
in that way, as the feet that travel them are usually bare. 
From the Orient we descended to the Modern world and hired 
a motor car for the drive to the clove "shambas," or planta- 
tions of Bububu, seven miles from the city, over an excellent 
paved road, between rows of Mango and Palm trees, and the 
picturesque, thatched huts of the natives. The old palaces of 
former sultans lined the way, as in olden times when the Sul- 
tan died, a new palace was built for his successor, and the 
others allowed to go to ruin. These picturesque ruins are now 
covered with a thick mass of vines or jungle vegetation. Zan- 
zibar exports three quarters of all the cloves used in the world. 
This is a good year for the business and a bumper harvest is 
now nearly completed. The trees are planted in rows, like our 
orchards, and the leaves are similar to our cherry trees. 

This is one of the greatest ivory markets of Africa. Most 
of the business is done by a New York firm, Arnold Cheney & 
Co., who have been here many years. 

The present Sultan, Ali-bin-Hammond, who is about 
twenty-five years of age, was educated at Eaton, in England, 
and, of course, speaks English fluently. He has built, for him- 
self, a palace in the center of the business district, with his 

67 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




ZANZIBAR 

harem adjoining. This palace is built with colonnades all 
around it up to the fourth floor, looking more like a business 
house than a palace. 

Zanzibar is under an English protectorate; the Sultan 
claims a strip ten miles wide along the coast, and has leased it 
to the English at a regular annual rental. A court of English 
lawmakers sit with him to make all laws, and he has little ac- 
tual power. 

The Germans bought out all the rights of the Sultan along 
their coast, so he has no claim to their East African territory. 
A former Sultan w^as not so good a trader, and undertook co 
bluff the British authority and dared them to fire on his ships. 
The result was that his little fleet w^as sunken in forty-five 
minutes. The mast of one ship still shows above the water in 
the harbor, and a danger light is hung above it every night. 
The harbor is protected by islands, and is a rather good place 
for vessels to anchor. There has been no landing place made 
for passengers, and the natixe row^ boats, which Ijring pas- 
sengers from the ships, are run upon the beach as far as pos- 
sible. 

As we wandered about the tangled streets we came upon 
the original church mission, established by Livingstone, the 
greatest missionarv explorer Africa ever had. This church 
is in a large garden with tropical trees, making it an invitingly 
cool and peaceful place. The church door was open and we 
stepped inside a few^ minutes. We called upon the American 
Consul, wdio is a Virginian, and a most agreeable gentleman. 
We w^ere gladly welcomed, and he invited us to luncheon or 
dinner, but we did not impose upon his politeness. He tel^s 
us that there is an American Colony here, consisting of another 
man and himself. He has very comfortable but oriental look- 
ing rooms. Many curios about, and a carved w^ood oriental 
window' with hanging baskets and birds. A liveried servant 
brought us a refreshing drink of water. 

The English have a fine golf and tennis club here and the 
Consul invited us to play a game of golf with him, at five 

69 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




MOZAMBIQUE 

o'clock, but the very thought of such exertion, caused us to 
perspire profusely, and we declined with thanks. The English 
abolished slavery fourteen years ago, and since that time the 
labor to work the large clove plantations has been rather un- 
certain. 



MOZAMBIQUE 

Our next call was at Mozambique, fifteen degrees south 
of the ecjuator. It is an island and was one of the first colo- 
nies of the Portuguese in East Africa, settled in 1508. The 
harbor is protected by two other small islands, and on one of 
these is the best lighthouse on all the east coast. This is the 
only possession of Portugal in East Africa, which was not 
taken from them by conquest. Mozambique was held against 
all odds for centuries. The ability to hold this possession may 
have been due to the fact that the harbor has a narrow en- 
trance and is guarded by the largest and best fort in Africa. 
This fort has walls many feet thick, and in some places seventy 
feet high, and is supplied with a large number of cannon, 
which in their day must have been of great service in defending 
this ancient stronghold. It is a matter of history that the 
stones used to build this great fort were brought eight thou- 
sand miles, in the tiny Dhows, or vessels of that time. It 
almost seems incredible. Those early Portuguese were colon- 
izers and fighters, and certainly had perseverance to build 
such a fort and to bring the material from such a great dist- 
ance. We were permitted to visit this fort, and go through 
it in all parts, and take as many photographs as we liked. 
There were about a dozen soldiers on duty, two of whom went 
with us. While we could not understand a word they spoke, 
still they courteously showed us all there was to be seen. 
There are about one hundred old cannon on the walls, but 
they are so badly rusted and weather-worn that not a shot 

71 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




P 
a 

o 



MOZAMBIQUE 

could be fired from any of them. Of course, the Portuguese 
recognize the fact that the fort and equipment are of no use 
in these days of modern warfare. 

We passed the Governor's palace near the fort and 
walked through what was once the Governor's garden. At 
present the palace is used as a telegraph station, and the gar- 
den is for the public. 

Mozambique may have had a hundred thcjusand or more 
population in the days of their prosperity (three hundred 
years ago), but today it looks deserted. The streets are nar- 
row but clean, and the houses are Iniilt of stone. The heavily 
bolted doors and barred windows of the sixteenth century still 
remain, and in some of the windows the original panes of 
mica, used in place of glass, may still be seen. 

The climate is said to be unhealthy for Europeans, and 
we only saw about one-half dozen white people in the city. 
They offered for sale to3dsitors, beautiful specimens of coral 
and shells, and some picture postal cards. We tried to pur- 
chase some of the latter — price, a shilling per dozen,. and of- 
fered a half crown in payment, but the whole of their force 
could not raise enough money to give us our change. 

Viewed from the harbor the town looks very picturesque. 
There is a good landing pier, which is more than can be said 
of some other ports in this part of the world. This part of 
the coast is subject to torrential, tropical rains and severe cy- 
clones. A few hours after we sailed we had a demonstration 
of one of these storms. Just a few miles ahead of us the storm 
gathered and the clouds were blacker than any we had ever 
seen, at least so thought the one lady passenger, Mrs. Wheeler. 
The captain noted that the barometer was rapidly falling and 
quickly proceeded to secure all hatchways and fasten the steer- 
ing gear with ropes, as it was rather loose and shaky. How- 
ever, the storm did no damage. The rain was very heavy 
and the wind kicked up a very rough sea, and being a head 
wind put us behind time several hours, but that is of no con- 
sequence in this part of the world. 

73 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




BEIRA 



We landed at Beira, March 14, 19 12, and found it greatly 
in contrast with the coast cities we had just visited. While 
it is rather a new place, and has only seven hundred and ninety- 
nine white people and about five thousand native blacks, it 
still has a prosperous appearance, and many improvements 
are being made. This is the seaport of the Biera and Mash- 
onaland and Rhodesia Railway, and the only seaport that has 
a raihvay connection to the interior for several hundred miles. 
This railway has only been completed about five years and is 
the most direct and natural outlet to the sea for Rhodesia and 
all adjoining territory, and is already doing a large freight 
business Avith the interior. 

Beira is built in the .sand. One must walk through about 
a foot of sand in the streets. It is Portuguese territory, but 
most of the wdiites are English. There is a small trolley rail- 
way system here similar to that in Mombasa. We took a 
ride on the trolley over the whole system and noticed many 
new buildings going up, one sash and door factory which 
employs over one hundred hands, several large printing estab- 
lishments, and an excellent hospital for natives, which is well 
patronized by them. Most of the houses are built of corru- 
gated iron with roofs of the same material. This gives the 
place a very temporary appearance and makes the houses ex- 
tremely hot in midday. 

We had a little experience when we first landed, having 
been told that the "Queens" was the best hotel. This was a 
mistake, which I soon found out. I left Mrs. Wheeler wdth 
the luggage and went to find the hotel, to get them to send 
for our trunks. When I found the "Queens" it did not look 
inviting, having' the appearance of a cheap hotel in a newly 
made mining camp. The hotel office was in the bar room, 
which at one side opened to the street, and when I called, w^as 

77 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




BEIRA 

filled with Portuguese and almost all other nationalities. The 
business "at the bar" was rushing. The manager sat on a 
nail keg outside of the door, and "Dick Deadeye," with a six 
shooter strapped around his waist on the other side. I asked 
the manager if this was the "Queens." He admitted it was. 
I asked if he had a room for Mrs. Wheeler and myself, and he 
replied in the affirmative. I asked if that was his only office 
and he said it was, but that Mrs. Wheeler could get to the 
room by going up an outside stairway. I was much troubled 
by such a reception and was thinking what my better half 
would say if we were forced to accept such hospitality. How- 
ever, on my way back I met an Englishman who directed us 
to the "Savoy Hotel," which was built on a modern plan, with 
clean and comfortable rooms. 

A high sea wall has been built for a mile or more along 
the sea front, and very convenient landing piers. The place is 
really a sand bar. 

Beira has an excellent prospect for the future. While it 
is a hot place, yet it is healthy for white people. 



79 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




SALISBURY 



At seven o'clock the next morning we took our departure 
on the mail train for the interior. This railway is three and 
one-half feet gauge, with iron cross ties and sixty pound rails, 
well built, and for so new a country the accommodations are 
good. We had a compartment in a new car. The train car- 
ries a dining car, which enabled us to get along very well. 
For the first hundred miles out the country is low, flat and 
hot, but quite fertile. It is very unhealthy for the whites, 
and in this part of the country the Tsetse Fly abounds. After 
passing this flat country the road rises rapidly and we passed 
through a heavily wooded section. By the time we reached 
Salisbury, three hundred miles from the coast, we were about 
five thousand feet above sea level. 

This young city of about three thousand population is 
the capital of Rhodesia, and it has the appearance of pros- 
perity wdiich one sees in a new country. There are some cred- 
itable brick and stone blocks. At eleven o'clock in the morning 
the business streets were very lively. There are several good 
stocks of goods here, as the town draws trade for hiuidreds of 
miles. There is a cathedral, several churches, hospital, public 
library and state buildings. The streets are filled with almost 
every kind of vehicle, from a rickshaw to a twelve-mule 
freight wagon. 

In talking w'ith a merchant in Salisbury he said he had 
been here for sixteen months and was doing well, and would 
not think of going back to England, but that there had been a 
large number of business failures during the last season, caused 
by poor crops, resulting from very light rainfall. This is the 
greatest country for bicycles that we have ever seen, and nearly 
all the white ladies ride their wheel. The soil in this part of 
Rhodesia is not rich, except in spots. We noticed in some 
places fine fields of corn called "Mealies." We saw a pros- 
perous looking farmer wdio said he had a good farm twelve 

8j 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




SALISBURY 

miles back from the railway, and that he had raised an excel- 
lent crop of "Mealies," but that the crop over the whole coun- 
try was so light that he expected to get one dollar and forty 
cents per bushel for his, which is about twice the usual price. 
The price of land in Rhodesia, so far as we could ascertain, 
for the unimproved veldt, runs from one dollar to two dollars 
per acre, that is when buying from the government. This 
veldt is usually covered with small, gnarled trees and costs 
about five dollars per acre to clear it ready for crops. The 
plowing is done by oxen or bullocks, as they are called here, 
from four to eight cattle being hitched to a plow. One black 
boy goes ahead and leads the bullocks, another wields a whip 
long enough to reach them all, while another holds the plow, 
or sometimes it is a gang of two or three plows. The cattle 
raising in this country is said to be prosperous. 

In tra\eling through the country we did ni)t see over two 
hundred head of stock cattle in traveling nearly one thousand 
miles by rail, almost the whole country is bare of crops and 
cattle. The price of native cows here is twenty-five to thirty- 
five dollars per head, and they are quite small and inferior 
stock, of the East Indian breed, with a large hump on their 
shoulders. 

We are told that all the good land near the railwav has 
been bought and is held for speculation. Immigration is com- 
ing in very slowly and the land speculator will not reap a har- 
vest. 

We traveled on the railway from Beira to Bulawayo, 
then on to Victoria Falls and back to Bulawayo, and there is 
not a town worth calling a town, outside the above named 
places, except the coal mining town of Wankie. Usually the 
town is simph' a station house. 



83 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




VICTORIA FALLS ON THE ZAMBEZI RIVER 



Victoria Falls is one of the world's wonders, where we 
spent five never-to-be-forgotten days. It is one of nature's 
sublimest spectacles. As we approached, the everlasting roar 
filled our ears and the spray arose to the height of a mile to 
meet the clouds. The ri\'er where it takes the great leap is 
nearly a mile wide and the fall is four hundred and fifty feet. 
The peculiarity of these wonderful falls is that the general 
level of the country is the same, both above and below the 
cataract. The water drops into a great fissure or chasm, which 
is about five hundred feet wide and lies at right angles with 
the river. Over one bank of this great chasm the water pours 
in a broken mass for nearly a mile, and one may stand on the 
opposite bank from where the water plunges down on a level 
with the top of the fall, the like of which is not seen elsewhere. 
These falls are supposed to Ije formed by the earth cooling, 
making these great clefts in the rock formation. Within a 
mile below the falls the stream is forced to run in four differ- 
ent or contrary directions. This great chasm is forty-three 
miles long. 

On our first morning we made a trip to the eastern side, 
called the "Rainbow Falls," as when the sun shines through the 
spray it makes a beautiful rainbow. From this end we see 
probably not more than one-third of the grand sight, as the 
tremendous spray obscures the view. The next day we made a 
trip to what is called the "Rain Forest." This takes us along 
the brink of the great chasm or the main fall. The spray was 
so heavv that we had to wait until the wind would sweep it 
about to get the extraordinary view. In the meantime the 
spray nearly washed us away. We had put on oil hats, rain- 
proof coats and rubber boots, but nothing can withstand such 
a downpour of water as the spray we here encountered. We 
found that our rain-proof coats were of no use at all, as every 
stitch of our clothing was as wet as water could make it. It 
was warm water and not harmful. Another da}', when the 

85 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




VICTORIA FALLS 

wind was favorable and took the immense volume of spray in 
another direction, we went into the "Rain Forest" for nearly 
half a mile, and got some fine photographs without getting 
wet. On this trip we saw many hundreds of monkeys playing 
about in the tree tops. On another day we followed the chasm 
and on looking down saw many baboons from six feet tall 
to the babies, all very funny, and full of curiosity. In taking 
a long walk in the jungle and high grass of this tropical coun- 
try we never were bitten by an insect, never saw a snake or 
a wild animal, but we saw the spoor of the deer. The dif- 
ferent parts of this great cataract have names as follows : The 
Devil's Cataract, or Leaping Water, ninety feet wide with two 
hundred and sixty feet fall ; the main fall is divided by a 
small island into two portions, five hundred and seventy-three 
and three hundred and twenty-five yards wide, respectively ; 
the Eastern, or Rainbow Fall, is six hundred yards wide, with 
a drop of four hundred and fifty feet. It is impossible to de- 
scribe the grandeur and sublimity of nature as here shown 
in these wonderful falls, which a lover of nature leaves with 
regret. 

The camera gives only a faint idea of the beauty of Vic- 
toria Falls, and instinctively we feel how small is man and 
how great the Creator. 

The railway bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below 
the falls. It is so close that the spray falls on the trains as 
they pass. This bridge is four hundred and fifty feet above 
the water, is said to be the highest in the world, and was built 
by American engineers. It was necessary to build a cantilever 
bridge, the kind that is commenced on each end and meets in 
the middle. 

One day we had a delightful trip about ten miles up the 
Zambezi River by motor boat. The river is about a mile and 
one-half wide and dotted with several small islands. The 
foliage on these islands is very heavy and green. We landed 
on one of these islands and ate our lunch under the tropical 
palm trees. The scenery along the river is charming. Part 

89 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




VICTORIA FALLS 

of the way our course lay through very swift rapids. We were 
only about one-half a mile above the falls when we started, 
and one of our party was thinking- what would become of our 
launch and the people in it if the spark plug should blow out, 
as we have frequently known it to do on automobiles, and 
leave us without power, remembering the drop over the falls 
was four hundred and fifty feet. There are some Hippo- 
potami along the river in this section. We did not see any on 
our trip, but later in the day some people were out in a small 
boat and a "Hippo" coming very close, nearly turned the boat 
over. 

One day the thermometer stood at ninety-five in the shade 
while we were there, but we did not suffer from the heat. 
Sometimes the temperature gets up to one hundred and six- 
teen degrees. In their cold season, which is August, they have 
a little frost. 

The Victoria Hotel and the meals were excellent, and the 
manager a pleasant and accommodating gentleman. The 
Mashonaland Railway is now Iniilt eight hundred miles 
farther north from the falls. The present terminus being 
about two hundred miles over in the Congo country, which is 
Belgian territory. 

After building to Victoria Falls the railway company 
were led to build to "Broken Hill," about three hundred and 
fifty miles distant, as there was a great mine there with lead 
and zinc ore. After much money was spent it was found 
that the ores were so refractory they could not be smelted, 
and today these great ore deposits are deserted. When the 
"Star of the Congo," a wonderfully rich copper mine, was 
discovered, the railroad built the line to that point. This rail- 
road was built by a corporation, but the English government 
owns about one-half the stock, and have guaranteed the bonds. 
Being built into a wilderness populated by savages, it takes 
some time to build up a paying business, and while this coun- 
trv does not fill up with immigrants like our own fertile 

91 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




VICTORIA FALLS 

prairies did, still a moderate immigration is coming in and it 
will be a paying road some time. 

Much trouble is now being experienced in smelting the 
copper ores of the "Star of the Congo" mine. A Belgian en- 
gineer, who has been on the works for a year, was coming 
down on the same train with us and told us of the refractory 
copper ores, but they hope soon to overcome this and will then 
send a big stream of copper to the European markets. While 
their ores are very rich it is not a profitable place to invest 
until all doubt about their smelting has been removed. 

Many hunters now go up this road to the Belgian terri- 
tory to hunt, as far as Lake Tanganyika The hunting in that 
section is said to be unequaled in any part of the world, game 
of all kinds being abundant. This place is so remote from 
civilization that ivory is about the only item that is valuable 
in dollars. Some tusks are being sent out from there by the 
way of Victoria Nyanza to the sea at Mombasa. 

Wdien the Germans get their railway finished to Lake 
Tanganyiki it will be the shortest route to those wonderful 
game districts, and will take the outgoing shipments from 
that section. That country is reported to be fertile and will 
no doubt soon be settled by Europeans, as it lies high, and 
should be healthy. 

Wankie is a coal mining station, about eighty miles south 
of Victoria Falls. It is the only coal mine now being worked 
in Rhodesia. The quality is semi-anthracite and makes good 
steam coal and is used for all the railways in this part of 
Rhodesia. The vein runs from five to twenty-nine feet in 
thickness and where the coal is so scarce as it is in Rhodesia 
this mine is worth more than some gold mines. This little coal 
mining town has some two thousand population, nearly all 
native negroes, and is the only town on this line of railway be- 
tween Victoria Falls and Bulawayo, a distance of two hundred 
and ninety miles. This will serve to illustrate how few white 
population there is now in Northwestern Rhodesia. The popu- 
lation is about seven hundred and fifty whites and the black 

93 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




BULAVVAYO 

population is estimated at about three hundred and fifty thou- 
sand. These blacks do but little farming, raising only small 
patches of ''Mealies" for their own use, and have a few cattle, 
the water is very scarce for live stock. 



BULAWAYO 

After the dusty, disagreeable traveling on the railway 
fibout one thousand miles, it was a great comfort to get the 
good accommodations provided by the Grand Hotel. We 
noticed with surprise that the table waiters were wearing 
shoes. This is the first time that we have seen shoes worn 
by servants in hotels since coming to Africa. Undoubtedly it 
is one of the indications that we are approaching the more 
civilized portions of this great continent. This is a bright, 
young city with six thousand population, good hotels, electric 
light, public library, Y. M. C. A. association, hospitals and ex- 
cellent church l)uil(lings. It has a first-class public school sys- 
tem and a daily newspaper. The 'Tndaba Tree," under which 
judgment was dispensed by "King Mosilikatse" and "King 
Lobengula," is still standing near the city limits. Bulawayo 
is a Zulu word, meaning "Idie place of the killing." 

One of Cecil Rhodes' homes is located one and one-half 
miles from the town. It has an avenue one hundred and thirty 
feet wide, planted with evergreen trees the whole length. The 
house is of not much importance, but the grounds are large 
and lie beautifully. It was undoubtedly the intention of the 
owner to build a mansion on this place. Rhodes gave it to 
the state and it is now called Government House and is occu- 
pied by state officials. 

The streets of this town are one hundred and thirty feet 
wide, regularly laid out at right angles, but the buildings on 

95 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




CECIL RHODES STATUE— BULAWAYO. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




BULAWAYO 

each side are only one and two stories, which gives the houses 
a squatty and low appearance. At the intersection of two prin- 
cipal streets is a statue of Mr. Rhodes on a pedestal about 
twenty-five feet high. It is made of bronze and represents 
Mr. Rhodes in the attitude of making a speech. He is dressed 
in a l)usiness suit, with both hands behind him. The day we 
were there was the tenth anniversar}^ of his death and a beau- 
tiful tribute to his memory, in the shape of a large wreath of 
flowers, was placed on the pedestal. At another prominent 
corner is a pedestal about twent}- feet high suruK^unted by a 
gatling gun. On the side of this pedestal are the names of a 
company of soldiers who were entirely annihilated in the last 
war with the natives. Bulawayo is destined to be a city of 
importance when this frontier country is settled up. It now 
has railroads from three directions, that is from Cape Town, 
Beira and Victoria Falls. 

Mining is in the air here, and many enterprising men 
have located in Bulawayo, with flaming signs in their office 
windows, telling the passerl)y of the great opportunity for in- 
vestment. There is a gold mine near the city, which is being 
worked with moderate success. A miner just in from his 
mine handed us for inspection a cone made of gold, which 
would weight at least twenty pounds. He had brought it to 
town for sale to the bank. There were two prosperous min- 
ers on the train with us who had just worked out a small 
gold find which netted them ten thousand dollars. They w^re 
going down to Cape Town to "blow it in." It has been demon- 
strated that there are gold mines in many directions from 
Bulawayo. In igoS the amount taken out from all Rhodesia 
was tweh'e million five hundred thousand dollars. It is very 
difficult to get the natives to work in the mines. 

The countrv or veldt, as it is called here, is red clay, 
sand and gravel and lies undulated and dotted with small, 
stunted trees. 

The right Honorable Cecil Rhodes was the father of this 
great countrv of Rhodesia, which was named for him. He 

99 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




Vo^V^. 


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v-ii 


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BULAWAYO 

lies buried in Matopa Hills, twenty-seven miles out from 
Bulawayo. He selected this burial place, and probably there 
is not a grander or more impressive sepulcher of modern times. 
We drove out to see the place one beautiful morning in March. 
The roadway is macadamed and graded the whole distance. 

Matopa Hills are a wonderful sight. They are granite 
hills rising out of the plains. As far as the driveway extends 
there is soil sufficient in the narrow valleys to grow trees, 
shrubs and flowers, which gives the drive a park like appear- 
ance. Arrixing at the end of this drive there is a walk of a 
mile or two of xery stiff climbing up to the grave, and on the 
top of the highest of these granite boulders, called "World's 
View," is the sepulcher hewn out of solid rock. It is covered 
with a slab of granite on which is inscribed "Here lies the re- 
mains of John Cecil Rhodes," nothing more, for he who 
knows Rhodesia, knows of Mr. Rhodes' life and work and 
a eulogy cut in marble is not necessary. The whole hill is a 
monument to this, the greatest empire builder of our time. By 
liis judgment and ability, while at the head of affairs in Africa, 
being prompt to decide and quick to act, a country equal 
in size to one-half of Europe was taken for the British nation 
without a shot being fired or a life l<^st. 

In going by train from Bulawayo to Kimberly, we passed 
through Mafeking. This was the place that General Baden 
Powell, during the Boer war, held for a number of months, 
with only eight hundred men. It now has a population of six 
thousand, and is the chief business center of the western Trans- 
vaal. We also saw the place where the first gun of the Boer 
War was fired. A\'e ha\-e met many men that \\ere in the war, 
and it was interesting to hear them talk aliout it. 



lOI 



OL'R HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




KIMBERLY 



We arrived at this most important diamond mining place 
in the world, on March 28, 1912, after a long, tiresome jour- 
ney by rail from Bulawayo a distance of seven hundred miles, 
time two days and one night ; average speed at little less than 
twenty miles per hour, through a most unattractive, dusty 
country. This little city, with its thirty-four thousand popu- 
lation, is known everyw'here. It was brought into existence 
in 1870, when diamonds were first discovered here. The first 
year "The Star of the South African Diamond Mines" w^as 
discovered, and this, with other valuable diamond finds, start- 
ed a great rush to this point, which created a big mining camp 
and developed into the city of Kimberly. It is a pretty little 
city with streets \ery irregular and shaded by lovely pepper 
trees. There is, within a radius of three and one-half miles, 
the DeBeers, the Kimberly. the Wesselton. the Bultfontein 
and the Dutoitspan, all celebrated diamond mines, and now are 
owned by the DeBeers company. The value of diamonds stead- 
ily advanced until 1907, when the financial troubles arose in the 
United States, which caused much falling off in demand for 
diamonds. As the DeBeers company now owns all five of 
these mines, they work only as many as the market justifies, 
aiming to keep up the price by keeping down the production, 
as they produce three-fourths of the world's output of dia- 
monds. However, the Premier Diamond Mine, near Pretoria, 
may have some important bearing on the diamond supply in 
the future, and the DeBeers company do not own the Premier. 

After a poor bed and a poorer breakfast at the Queens 
Hotel, we went to the office of the DeBeers company for a 
permit to visit their Kimberly Diamond Mine. It was cheer- 
fully granted when we explained to the obliging secretary 
that we were simply untitled Americans doing Africa, and did 
not wish to return without seeing the greatest diamond mine 
in the world. Armed with our permit we hastened to the Kim- 

103 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




KIMBERLY 

berly mine and were soon under the direction of a most polite 
and educated guide. First we went to the old or surface mine. 
It is called a "pipe." that is to say, a circle four hundred and 
fifty feet in diameter, which stands in a perpendicular position 
and goes straight down into the earth to an untold depth. 
This "pipe" is filled with soft blue rock, called by the miners 
"the blue," and this is the rock that contains the diamonds. 
All the great machinery of this mine is simply to get the dia- 
monds separated from the blue rock. First they worked open 
from the surface, but the sides are so soft that they continually 
caved in on the works, until it was impractical to work longer 
from the surface. Then the miners went back a quarter of a 
mile and sunk a shaft about one thousand feet and drove a 
lateral tunnel into the "l)lue" and at present thev are mining 
about six hundred feet below the surface. 

As we stood beside the elevator which brings the blue to 
the surface we noticed that there were two large iron buckets, 
each holding about a ton. When one is filled it shoots to the 
top very rapidly, and at the same time the other iron bucket 
drops to the bottom. Automatically, when these buckets reach 
the top they dump their load into a large funnel made of iron 
and under this funnel runs a small railway track and small 
iron dump cars which hold about one-half a ton. From this 
funnel the "blue" is dropped into these dump cars and hauled 
away to their dumping floor, which is a wide stretch of hard 
level earth about three miles long and more than a mile wide. 
The blue is left for a }ear to decompose and slack in the sun, 
the wind and rain. After the elements have for a year slacked 
and pulverized the "blue," it is put in these little dump cars 
again and run away to the washer. The guide took us through 
the washing department where the water is turned in a great 
many churn like tanks and the "blue" is washed and churned 
by machines until all the gravel, as well as the diamonds, is 
washed out. The diamond bearing gravel is then taken to the 
Pulsator, which is a separate building- and where this gra\-el 

105 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




KLMRERLY 

is separated into six different sizes, and each size is slowly 
pulsated over an inclined iron plane, which is covered with 
vaseline. When the gravel drops on this plane the diamonds 
stick to the vaseline and the other gravel is gradually rolled 
off. 1 he attendant then scrapes off the vaseline and the dia- 
monds. This is placed in a small iron drum with very small 
holes perforated on all sides. This drum is then securely 
locked and dropped in a large tank of boiling water. When it 
has boiled until most of the vaseline has floated off, it is put 
into another tank of boiling soda water and here all the re- 
maining grease is soon removed. Then the drum is taken into 
the sorter's office where it is unlocked and the contents poured 
on the sorter's table. To an inexperienced eye the contents 
looks like a pile of ordinary gravel. The sorter scatters it out 
with a little trowel and selects the diamonds, throwing the 
worthless gravel aside. 

AVe watched the S(jrting process for half an hour, and dur- 
ing that time a handful of diamonds were found. One \\as a 
brilliant straw colored diamond the size of the end of your 
thuml), a very large and valuable stone. Others were clear 
white and larger than a kernel of corn, and many small dia- 
monds. This is the result of washing of probably a thousand 
truck loads of "blue." It is said that they get less than one- 
half a caret of diamonds to a truck of earth. They are now 
working in this mine from two to three thousand native blacks, 
who make from seventy-five cents and rations per day upward, 
according to their ability and zeal in the work. There are 
seven hundred white men who make from seventy dollars to 
one hundred and twenty dollars per month. The white men 
are employed as bosses and do the work where great care and 
attention is acquired. The native negroes are employed for 
a stated term, from three to six months, and are kept within 
the compound. They have good quarters and plenty of food 
and in case of sickness or accident there is a well e(|uipped hos- 

107 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




KIMBERLY 

pital where they receive the best of attention and medical stx- 
vice, without charge. 

Mr. Rhodes was one of the early owners of these mines 
and made his immense fortune here. By his skill and diplo- 
macy the other large mines were bought out and consolidated 
in one company, the DeBeers. It is by far the most important 
and wealthiest of any company in the world in this business. 
They have enough material in sight to keep them at work for 
a generation, and as far as we can judge, there is no danger 
of a scarcity of diamonds. It would be better for humanity 
if there were none, and let this vast amount of labor be spent 
in producing the necessities of life, rather than the luxury of 
diamonds. 



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JOHANNESBURG 



Johanneslmri^- has a population of two hundred and forty 
thousand, of whom one-half are white. It is a real live city, 
not excelled anywhere. All this has l)een brought about by 
the largest gold mining camp in the world. In 1909, the 
world's output of gold was estimated at four hundred and 
fifty million dollars, of which the Rand Reef contributed one 
hundred and fifty million, or a little over one-third of the 
w^orld's output. In 19 10 the Rand's output was one hundred 
and sixty million, and in 1911 one hundred and seventy-five 
million, showing an increase every year. This reef has been 
located definitely for over fifty miles, and runs due east and 
west through Johannesburg. Inside the city there are at least 
fifteen mining plants, with their tall smoke stacks belching 
smoke, each plant having acres of washed earth dumped 
around them, making a little row of hills at least one hundred 
feet high. The laborers employed here are the native negroes, 
but it requires an army of white men to direct them. The 
w^ages of nearly all are spent in this city, and the cash paid 
out in wages each month is over seven million dollars, which 
makes a very large, paying retail trade, yet the competition 
is sharp and manv of the stores do a credit business with the 
miners, and thev must ha\'e many losses. Many of the black- 
Zulu boys die of pneumonia, as the mines are warm, and in 
the winter the weather is cold. 

We made a visit to the "Robinson Deep" gold mine, in- 
side the city limits. There are acres of iron vats and ma- 
chinery where the gold is extracted by the "Cyanide" process. 
Thev are working this mine now at the depth of eighteen hun- 
dred to thirty-three hundred feet and crushing the rock with 
heavy stamps. A tremendous power plant is required to handle 
these acres of machinery and to drive the great number of 
electric motors in all parts of the mine, besides the power 
required to hoist the material and to run the dump cars to 

III 



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OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 





JOHANNESBURG 

carry away the refuse. Also to drive the great number of 
pressure drills which are used in drilling blast holes. The 
capital invested here is almost fabulous. The smallest mines 
having an investment of one million dollars and over, and 
many of the larger plants five million dollars. In the "Trans- 
vaal Leader" of April 3, 191 2, are printed reports of fifty-six 
of these mining plants, and their profits as reported, run all 
the way from nothing to three hundred per cent per annum, 
but most of them report dividends of about twenty per cent. 

Johannesburg is six thousand feet above sea level, al- 
though only twenty-eight degrees south of the equator, is cold 
during the winter months; in June, July and August fre- 
quently they have snow and ice. It is situated on rocky hills 
with beautiful homes and gardens. All of our fall flowers, 
at this time, were blooming in great profusion. Cosmos grow 
wild and were everywhere in the fields. Dahlias and chrys- 
anthemums were glorious, beside scarlet sage and many others. 

We went to one of the show nurseries. It w^as certainly 
a lovely place with all kinds of fruits and flowers. We also 
were taken to the Country Club. It was most beautifully 
landscaped. There was an eighteen-hole golf links, eighteen 
tennis courts, swimming pools and many other sports. The 
Country Club has fifteen hundred members. The city is 
only twenty-eight years old and has immense business blocks, 
really looks much like Kansas City, Missouri, being situated 
so high, it gets more rain than the surrounding country. This 
keeps the vegetation very thick and green. Wliile we were 
there the rain fell nearly every afternoon. Still it was very 
dusty in the morning, as the w^nd blow^s the sand from the 
mines, making it very disagreeable. A sign frequently seen 
in the shop windows reads as follows : "Closed on account of 
the dust; come in." 

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JOHANNESBURG 

The Premier Diamond Mine is situated thirty miles east 
of Pretoria. It is one of the largest in the world. We could 
not leave this part of Africa without seeing it and made a 
special trip there one day, going through the whole place. The 
diamond "Pipe" is four hundred and fifty feet across one 
way, and nine hundred feet the other way, being oval in shape, 
and goes straight down into the earth beyond the knowledge 
of the local engineers. This mine has always been worked 
from the surface and it is an interesting sight to stand on the 
bank and see the army of mules and iron dump cars at work 
in the pit, five hundred feet below. All the "blue" rock here 
is taken directly to the stamp mills and is ground and washed. 
The process is similar to that described in the Kimberly Mines, 
except that they do not spread the "blue" on the floors to be- 
come weather slacked. All the blast holes are loaded with 
dynamite and fuse and-.are fired at noon, while the miners are 
at lunch. We perched ourselves on an elevation and waited 
for the blast. It all went off within three minutes, and sound- 
ed like artillery firing in battle. There are several million dol- 
lars capital invested in the Premier Diamond Mines. They 
work seven thousand natives and several hundred white men. 
They "pipe" the water for the mines, thirty miles. They are 
compelled to pay to the Natal Government sixty per cent of 
their profit. The mine must be very profitable to do that and 
still have a fair profit left for the stockholders. 

The largest white diamond known was found here in Jan- 
uary, 1905. The weight was three thousand and twenty-four 
carets, or one and three-quarters pounds. Dimensions, four 
by two and one-half and one and one-half inches in thickness, 
too heavy to be worn as a chest sparkler with comfort. It was 
presented to King Edward the seventh. 

There is much prospecting going on in this vicinity, and 
quite recently a new diamond mine has been located within 

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three miles of the Premier, but it has not been worked lon^ 
enough to determine whether it would be a paying investment. 

Pretoria, the capital of the Union of the South African 
States. It is a bright young city, forty-six miles north of 
Johannesburg. It lies in a narrow valley, surrounded by pict- 
uresque hills, forty-five hundred feet above sea level. It is 
a winter health resort and has all the modern city improve- 
ments. At present they are erecting the capitol buildings, 
which are expected to cost about twenty-five million dollars. 
The site overlooks the town and is very beautiful. Offices 
will be provided in these buildings for the Governor General, 
ministers and officials, but the Union of the wSouth African 
Parliament will remain at Cape Town, as heretofore. 

After a ten days' delightful sojourn in Johannesburg we 
continued our journey b~y rail to Durban on the coast; distance, 
four hundred and eighty-two miles. We made the trip by the 
express train, unlimited, in twenty-five hours. This is the fast- 
est train on this important railroad, and if we had taken any 
other, no one knows when we would have reached our desti- 
nation. 



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OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




JOHANNESBURG 

Lady Smith is one of the small cities we passed throiigli 
on our way to the coast. It is quite a pretty place in a rough, 
scenic country. It was here that many hard fought battles of 
the recent Boer War took place, and on the surrounding hills 
are many monuments erected to mark the burial places of dif- 
ferent heroes. One of these monuments marks the spot 
where the son of Lord Roberts fell. 

Pietermaritzhurg is another of the young cities we passed 
through in going down to the sea. It has a population of 
thirty thousand and is the seat of the government of Natal. 
It is the most beautifully situated of any place we have visited 
in South Africa, lying in a basin two thousand feet below the 
surrounding country. We were more than an hour winding 
our way around the steep incline, past many beautiful moun- 
tain side residences with the city far below and in view most 
of the time. They have many fine public buildings for so 
small a place, the most important being the town hall, which 
cost one-half million dollars. There is nothing small about 
these people when they are spending the public money. 



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DURBAN 



The chief seaport of Natal and its commercial capital. 
It has a population of sixty thousand, nearly half of which 
are whites; the remainder being Negroes and East Indians. 
It is the cleanest and prettiest seaport we have visited in this 
part of the world. The public buildings are handsome and 
the streets are wide and clean ; all together it is most attractive. 
The weather was ideally beautiful when we were there. On 
the surrounding hills there are many beautiful residences sur- 
rounded by lovely gardens, indicating much wealth. The 
Marine Hotel, where we domiciled, would be a credit to any 
city, and is beautifully situated, overlooking the bay. The 
harbor has a narrow entrance, not more than half a mile wide, 
with a lighthouse set upon a promontory, about two hundred 
feet above the sea, and"' throws a strong light twenty miles 
out. The town has been called the "Garden of South Africa," 
"The Pearl of the Indian Ocean," "The Queen of South 
Africa." The most noteworthy structure is the new town hall, 
said to be the handsomest building on the continent. It was 
finished two years ago at an expense of one million and five 
hundred thousand dollars. It contains the free public library, 
museum, art gallery and offices for the city officials. We 
visited the museum, which was most interesting to us, as it 
contained all the wild animals, stuffed and in glass cases, that 
we have recently seen in their live state, as well as a great 
collection of other curios. The art gallery is well supplied 
with pictures, many of considerable note. The free public li- 
brary has a large number of books and is a great benefit to 
the city. The Governor's Mansion is located on the highest 
point on the bluff, and has a charming view of the whole city, 
harbor and ocean. This beautiful place was built several 
years ago, when Durban had a Governor. The acres sur- 
rounding it were planted in rare trees, shrubbery and flowers, 
interspersed with walks and drives. Since the formation of 
the Union of the South African States one governor is ap- 

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OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




DURBAN 

pointed for all the Union, and he resides at the capital, Pre- 
toria. Nevertheless, Durban in its desire to make the city 
attractive, keeps this mansion and grounds in fine condition, 
simply as a show place. There is a race course in the central 
part of the city, given to the public at an early day with 
the proviso that it can be used only for public sports, and 
inside the track is an eighteen-hole golf course. The city has 
grown up around this race course, but it must be retained for 
sports only. 

The largest vessels, drawing thirty-three feet of water, 
come up alongside the loading docks, and a large dry dock is 
maintained here. The coal mines, which are about two hun- 
dred miles inland, have probably done as much as any other 
one thing to make this a great shipping point. It is a good 
quality of coal and delivered to the ships at four dollars per 
ton. This causes all the big steamers from England to come 
here for coal, and makes this really the starting point of the 
Union Castle Mail Steamers on their return trip to England. 

The climate is a very delightful one for a winter resort, 
while the location is thirty degrees south, yet the Indian Ocean 
so tempers the seasons that they never have frost at Durban, 
and many of the tropical trees and flowers grow in profusion, 
still the oranges wdiich they raise are not good, as they are 
green and sour. The rainfall is thirty-nine inches per annum, 
enough to make this a fine agricultural country. The prin- 
cipal exports from Durban in 1909 were coal, four million five 
hundred thousand dollars ; wool, four million five hundred 
thousand dollars, and corn, two million dollars, not enough in 
any line to greatly affect the world's markets. It is only 
eighty-nine years since this city was settled, and there were 
very few settlers in the interior for some years later. It is one 
of the strictest Sabbath keeping places we have visited, al- 
though they have several daily papers, none of them print a 
Sunday morning edition. 



f25 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




EAST LONDON, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA 



After a very delightful stay at Durban we took the Union 
Castle Mail Steamship, "Walmer Castle," for Cape Town. 
We had four days of perfect weather on our journey to Cape 
Town, and on the way our first call was at East London, 
which is beautifully situated on the sea coast at the mouth of 
the Buffalo River. There is really no natural harbor, but 
walls have been built on each side of the stream for a mile 
inland, and piers have been built out into the sea for two thou- 
sand feet, and the channel is kept dredged out to the depth of 
twenty-five feet. Fine docks have been built along the river 
wall and loading cranes erected. The immense sum of ten 
million dollars has been spent here to make this a good ship- 
ping point. It is now the third port in volume of exports in 
Cape Colony. The railroad comes along the docks, making 
the handling of freight for small steamers very convenient. 
On the day of our visit there were five steamers in port load- 
ing or discharging cargo. As our steamer draws twenty-five 
feet of water, we anchored one-half mile out. Usually the 
sea is very rough and the passengers going ashore are swung 
over the side of the ship in a basket, and we had our first ex- 
perience of this kind. It is a large circular willow basket that 
will hold ten people. It is five feet in diameter and seven feet 
high, with heavy loops on top and a small door on one side. 
\\nien full the door is bolted on the outside. The signal to 
hoist away is given, the basket and load is swung by the 
ship's crane, high in the air over the side, and rather suddenly 
lowered to the deck of the small steam tender. It is rather a 
dizzv experience. This performance is repeated until the 
tender is loaded. 

East London has a population of twenty-five thousand, 
one-half of them white and the other half negroes. It is quite 
a pretty place and very fine surf bathing. We drove along 
this beautiful wide beach, where the breakers continually roll 
in, and enjoyed seeing the people in bathing. There is a fine 

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PORT ELIZABETH 

beach hotel here and in the season thousands of people from 
the surrounding country come here for a holiday, many of 
them bringing tents and camping outfits. The tram cars run 
along the whole length of the beach and there are many amuse- 
ment places erected. 

The railway runs back into the interior and is connected 
with the whole South African system, and the country is very 
fertile a few miles back from the coast. This part of the 
country has been settled by the English for a hundred years. 
Corn, oats and beans are generally raised, and wine producing 
is of much importance ; but wool is the greatest export, and 
our steamer was busy all day loading from lighters into the 
hold. One of the sights of the town are the wagons with 
twelve to twenty oxen with a negro leading the front pair 
and another wielding a whip about fifteen feet long. The 
town hall is the most showy building in the city, with a hand- 
some clock tower and a bronze, equestrian statue, a memorial 
of the soldiers killed in the Boer War. East London is well 
supplied with hotels, schools, colleges, hospitals and churches, 
and has a delig:htful climate. 



PORT ELIZABETH, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA 

This is the second city in Cape Colony, and four hundred 
and twenty-five miles east of Cape Town by sea, with a pop- 
ulation of thirty-three thousand, one-half of whom are Euro- 
peans and one-half Negroes. It has been occupied by the En- 
glish about a hundred years and is a fine business city, with 
handsome public and private l^uildings, and is a large shipping 
port. It is sometimes called the "Liverpool" of South Africa. 
It is situated on an open bay and ships do not have much 
protection from storms which frequent these seas. The town 

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PORT ELIZABETH 

lies on the hills of about two hundred feet elevation, and 
many of the streets are so steep that they are built with steps 
for pedestrians, and not used for vehicles. In the center 
part is a park where Sir Rufan Donkin, the first governor, 
built a pyramid of stone to the memory of his deceased wife, 
Elizabeth, for whom the town was named. It has the follow- 
ing inscription : "One of the most perfect human beings who 
has given her name to the town below." As this is the high- 
est ponit in the town, a lighthouse has been erected here, which 
guides the mariner many miles at sea. There is an immense 
amount of export business done here. All day from sunrise 
to midnight we were busily engaged in packing away in the 
hold of our steamer, every kind of produce that is sent out 
from South Africa. First of importance is the wool export, 
and next is the ostrich feathers, being consigned to New York 
and London, and also some sugar. 

There is a handsome town hall on the public square, a 
public library containing forty-five thousand volumes, a fine 
building and a credit to the place. A very life-like statue of 
Queen Victoria, in white marble, stands in front of the library. 
These people in South Africa are very extravagant in public 
buildings. 

Southern Africa is the greatest country for ostrich farm- 
ing, and the American ladies wear more of the feathers than 
any other people. 

Mossel Bay is situated on the southern shore of a bay by 
the same name. This bay was one of the first known to Euro- 
pean navigators. It is deep water and is a safe port for ships 
in storms, which are not infrequent. We took from this place 
a cargo of ostrich feathers and wool and left a cargo of Ran- 
goon rice. Near the town is a headland, rising sheer from 
the sea, and on this a lighthouse is erected. 



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OUR HOLIDAY IX A I- RICA 




CAPE TOWN, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA 



We sailed into Table Bay on April 22, 19 12, and were 
delighted to reach Cape Town, often having heard of it for 
its beautiful situation. It has a population of about two hun- 
dred thousand, and it is surrounded on one side by the sea, 
and on three sides by wonderfully picturcs([ue mountains. The 
business part of the city is solidly built with many stone and 
brick structures. The Parliament buildings are very fine, as 
is the postoffice. Standard Bank of Africa, custom house and 
public library. The largest mercantile blocks and hotels would 
do credit to our best American cities. The streets are wide and 
kept remarkably clean and neat. 

Table Bay is what originally made Cape Town. It i?. 
such a fine natural harbor that the trading ships for India 
in early days made this a half-way stopping place before the 
Suez Canal was built. Even yet it is the half-way to India 
for many ships to call and renew their supplies. 

The Holland Dutch settled Cape Town and held it for 
one hundred and fifty years. About one hundred years ago 
the English took the place by force. Since the Boer War, 
in which the English had such a hard time to conquer them, 
they have given back to them so much of the government that 
the Parliament is made up of Boers and English, and both lan- 
guages are spoken, and all public documents are printed in 
both Dutch and English. As the railways are owned and oper- 
ated by the government, all the cars and stations have both 
the Dutch and English names and both languages are taught 
in the public schools. These sturdy Boers do not like the En- 
glish, and many of them will not learn to speak the English 
language. On their most prominent street a bronze statue of 
the first Dutch governor. Van Reebeck, stands. 

The mountains give the town the finest setting, entitling 
it to rank in beauty with Naples, Rio Janeiro and San Fran- 
cisco, the most beautiful seaports of the world. 

Table Mountain rises back of the town three thousand five 

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CAPE TOWN 

nundred and eighty-two feet, cutting the sky hne with its hor- 
izontal front for two miles. To the left is Devil's Peak, thirty- 
three hundred feet high, and to the right is Lion's Head, 
twenty-one hundred feet high. The two lower mountains 
stand in advance of Table Mountain and together they form 
the Horse Shoe Valley, in which Cape Town is located. 

The old Dutch Reformed Church, commenced in 1699, 
was the first erected in South Africa, which makes it the most 
ancient of all structures in Cape Town. The clock tower con- 
tains the clock which was sent from Holland in 1727. This 
is the only part of the original church now standing, the re- 
mainder having been rebuilt, and seats three thousand persons. 
The great hundred-foot span of the roof is most notable. No 
supporting posts in this church. Beneath the floor lies the 
remains of eight of the first Dutch governors, which has 
caused it to be called ihe "Westminster" of South Africa. 

On Sundays they hold three services in this great church : 
preaching at eleven in the morning, and three in the afternoon 
is in Dutch, but at the evening services, it is in English. We 
attended the evening service, heard a good sermon with fine 
music from a choir of fifty voices. The pulpit is raised about 
twenty feet high on the side of this great audience room, which 
is a hundred feet wide, two hundred feet long and about sixty 
feet high. The pews are very high, with straight backs, and 
it is extremely plainly furnished. We took an automobile drive 
out to Houts Bay, going over the justly celebrated Victoria 
road, cut into the side of the mountain and overlooking the 
Atlantic Ocean on one side. Sometimes it is high above the 
w^ater. and again near the sea. A most magnificent view of 
the sea, which reminds us very much of the famous Sorrento- 
Amalfa Drive in Southern Italy along the Mediterranean Sea. 

Arriving at Houts Bay we walked along the sandy beach 
where the surf was rolling in. This is a beautiful little bay, 
almost shut in by the mountains. On one side where the water 
is deep the fishing is fine. We saw several wagon loads of 
fish being taken to the city market. Great big fellows that 

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CAPE TOWN 

would weigh ten or twenty pounds, and two feet long, all 
caught with hook and line. The water is cold and the fish are 
fine eating. After having tea at a little hotel at the bay we 
returned by another road, going back of the mountains, and 
here the scenery was more delightful even than by the seashore. 
The road rises half way to the mountain tops and passes 
through a gap between the high peaks. In the little valley the 
market gardeners have their cosey little homes with thatched 
roofs built in Dutch st}'le. We passed through a suburb called 
Wynburg, where many of the fields were covered with grape 
vines, and it is in this section that great quantities of wine 
are made, to be exported from Cape Town. We passed 
through several dense forests where the trees were so thick 
that they shut out the sun and sky from the roadway. When 
we would come out in the open space between the forests we 
could see for miles over the country dotted with homes built 
in Dutch style, surrounded with well trimmed evergreen hedges 
and fields of grape vines. It was certainly the most beautiful 
and picturesque drive that we have ever taken. 

At another time we went to Camps Bay on the tram cars. 
This is another most unique trip. On leaving Cape Town 
the road climbs the mountain side to Kloofs Neck about a 
thousand feet above the town. It is a pass between Table 
Mountain and Lion's Head. From this point the view is mag- 
nificent over city and bay. We proceeded along the mountain 
side on the back of Lion's Head, gradually dropping down 
until we came to Camps Bay on the sea side. There are here 
twelve small mountain peaks abo\'e the sea shore called the 
twelve apostles. 



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OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




CECIL JOHN RHODES 



We went out to see the home of the right Hon. Cecil 
Rhodes, called Groote Sluuir. It is an estate of several hun- 
dred acres, lying- on the side of the mountain, much of which 
is covered by a forest of pine trees. The avenue leading to it 
is through a stately collonade of pines, nearly a hundred feet 
wide. The estate is laid out in gardens, has a high fenced past- 
ure for herds of animals, such as the South African buck, zebra, 
monkeys and other beasts, and houses built especially for them. 
The house is stately looking, built of white plaster and brick 
with a fine veranda across the front. At his death it was willed 
to the Cape Colony government, to be occupied by the Premier 
of the Union of South African States. At present it is occu- 
pied by General Botha, of Boer War fame. At a high point 
on the Rhodes' estate is a "Classical Monument" of "Physical 
Energy," erected by the. nation to the memory of Mr. Rhodes. 
From there one has a view of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak 
on one side, and over the bay and Cape Flats on the other. In 
the botanical gardens in the central part of Cape Town is a 
fine statue of Mr. Rhodes, representing him delivering a 
speech, dressed in his customary business suit with his right 
hand raised. An inscription on the .pedestal, evidently taken 
from his speech, reads "Yonder is your Hinter Land." He 
was easily the greatest man that Modern Africa has produced, 
and died at the early age of forty-nine. His policies are still 
being carried out, but if he had li\'ed another twenty years he 
would undoubtedly have rendered greater service to Africa, 
the land of his adoption. As it is, he has left an imprint, not 
only on Africa, but on the other English speaking people of the 
world. His will, which provided scholarships at Oxford 
(where he was educated) for young, men. giving them three 
years in this renov/necl university, was the crowning act of his 
life. Mr. Rhodes directed, in great detail, that these scholar- 
ships are intended to more closely cement all English speaking 
people. The scholarships are distributed as follows : South 

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OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




CECIL JOHN RHODES 

Africa, eight ; Australia, six ; New Zealand, one ; Canada, two ; 
New Foiindland, one; Bermuda, one; Jamaica, one; United 
States, two ; for each state and territory, ninety-six ; Germany, 
fifteen. The total number of scholarships, one hundred and 
thirty-one, annual expense about fifteen hundred dollars each, 
making about two hundred thousand dollars per year, to con- 
tinue for all time. He had about one million dollars per annum 
income at his death, which has since been increased. There 
is no reasonable doubt al:)out his trustees being amply able, 
financially, to carry out his request. His largest wealth was 
in Kimberly Diamond Mines. In addition to the foregoing he 
provided annuities for his relatives, besides many legacies for 
friends and servants. Notice that our own United States gets 
about three-fourths of this endowment. These scholarships 
are to be earned by competition and examination, giving the 
brightest minds among English speaking young men an oppor- 
tunity to get a university education. These young men will 
be monuments to his memor}', which Avill be of longer duration 
than monuments made of marble and bronze. We have two 
}'Oung men of our own city now being educated at Oxford at 
the expense of the Rhodes endowment. 



SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT 

We visited the Parliament at Cape Town, both the Senate 
and Representative Chambers, while in session. There were 
in the Senate about forty members, and a speech was being 
made in English on the subject of irrigation, which is very 
much needed in this country, where rainfall is usually deficient. 
In the house of the Representatives quite a spirited debate was 

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would weigh ten or twenty pounds, and two feet long, all 
caught with hook and line. The water is cold and the fish are 
fine eating. After having tea at a little hotel at the bay we 
returned by another road, going back of the mountains, and 
here the scenery was more delightful even than by the seashore. 
The road rises half way to the mountain tops and passes 
through a gap between the high peaks. In the little valley the 
market gardeners have their cosey little homes with thatched 
roofs built in Dutch style. We passed through a suburb called 
Wynburg, where many of the fields were covered with grape 
vines, and it is in this section that great quantities of wine 
are made, to be exported from Cape Town. We passed 
through several dense forests where the trees were so thick 
that they shut out the sun and sky from the roadway. When 
we would come out in the open space between the forests we 
could see for miles over the country dotted with homes built 
in Dutch style, surrounded with well trimmed evergreen hedges 
and fields of grape vines. It was certainly the most beautiful 
and picturesque drive that we have ever taken. 

At another time we went to Camps Bay on the tram cars. 
This is another most unique trip. On leaving Cape Town 
the road climbs the mountain side t(^ Kloofs Neck abnut a 
thousand feet above the town. It is a pass between Table 
Mountain and Lion's Head. From this point the view is mag- 
nificent over city and bay. \Yq proceeded along the mountain 
side on the back of Lion's Head, gradually dropping down 
until we came to Camps Bay on the sea side. There are here 
twelve small mountain peaks above the sea shore called the 
twelve apostles. 



143 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 



M'^'^ 




CECIL JOHN RHODES 



We went out to see the home of the right Hon. Cecil 
Rhodes, cahed Groote Shuiir. It is an estate of several hun- 
dred acres, lying on the side of the mountain, much of which 
is covered by a forest of pine trees. The avenue leading to it 
is through a stately collonade of pines, nearly a hundred feet 
wide. The estate is laid out in gardens, has a high fenced past- 
ure for herds of animals, such as the South African buck, zebra, 
monkeys and other beasts, and houses built especially for them. 
The house is stately looking, built of white plaster and brick 
with a fine veranda across the front. At his death it was willed 
to the Cape Colony government, to be occupied by the Premier 
of the Union of South African States. At present it is occu- 
pied by General Botha, of Boer War fame. At a high point 
on the Rhodes' estate is a "Classical Monument" of "Physical 
Energy," erected by the nation to the memory of Mr. Rhodes. 
From there one has a view of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak 
on one side, and over the bay and Cape Flats on the other. In 
the botanical gardens in the central part of Cape Town is a 
fine statue of Mr. Rhodes, representing him delivering a 
speech, dressed in his customary business suit with his right 
hand raised. An inscription on the , pedestal, evidently taken 
from his speech, reads "Yonder is your Hinter Land." He 
was easily the greatest man that Modern Africa has produced, 
and died at the early age of forty-nine. His policies are still 
being carried out. but if he had lived another twenty years he 
would undoubtedly have rendered greater service to Africa, 
the land of his adoption. As it is, he has left an imprint, not 
only on Africa, but on the other English speaking people of the 
world. His will, which provided scholarships at Oxford 
(where he was educated) for young men, giving them three 
years in this renowned university, was the crowning act of his 
life. Mr. Rhodes directed, in great detail, that these scholar- 
ships are intended to more closely cement all English speaking 
people. The scholarships are distributed as follows : South 

145 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




CECIL JOHN RHODES 

Africa, eight ; Australia, six ; New Zealand, one ; Canada, two ; 
New Foundland, one; Bermuda, one; Jamaica, one; United 
States, two ; for each state and territory, ninety-six ; Germany, 
fifteen. The total number of scholarships, one hundred and 
thirty-one, annual expense about fifteen hundred dollars each, 
making about two hundred thousand dollars per year, to con- 
tinue for all time. He had about one million dollars per annum 
income at his death, which has since been increased. There 
is no reasonable doubt about his trustees being amply able, 
financially, to carry out his request. His largest wealth was 
in Kimberly Diamond Mines. In addition to the foregoing he 
provided annuities for his relatives, besides many legacies for 
friends and servants. Notice that our own United States gets 
about three-fourths of this endowment. These scholarships 
are to be earned by competition and examination, giving the 
brightest minds among English speaking young men an oppor- 
tunity to get a university education. These young men will 
be monuments to his memory, which will be of longer duration 
than moiuunents made of marble and l)ronze. We have two 
3'oung men of our own city now being educated at Oxford at 
the expense of the Rhodes endowment. 



SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT 

We visited the Parliament at Cape Town, both the Senate 
and Representative Chambers, while in session. There were 
in the Senate about forty members, and a speech was being 
made in English on the subject of irrigation, which is very 
much needed in this country, where rainfall is usually deficient. 
In the house of the Representatives quite a spirited debate was 

147 



OL'R HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




o 



P 

o 

H 

O 
O 



PARLIAMENT 

going on over the revision of the pohce laws. Some of the 
members spoke in Enghsh, others in Dutch, and some in both 
languages. The Speaker of the House read the motions be- 
fore putting them to vote, first in English and then in Dutch, 
all of which took much time, and one would think it rather con- 
fusing. The English are very mild and diplomatic in their 
colonies here, as well as elsewhere, but we think they have made 
a mistake here, in authorizing two legal languages. The House 
of Representatives is elected by the people. It is only in the 
Cape Colony State that the negroes are permitted to vote, 
if they can read and write, and have two hundred and fifty 
dollars' worth of property. 

The Senate is appointed by the Governor, also the Prime 
Minister, and the Governor is appointed by the King of En- 
gland. The Union of South African States at present con- 
sists of Cape Colony, Orajige Free State, Natal and the Trans- 
vaal, with a Protectorate over Rhodesia, which may, at some- 
time, become a part of the Union. The Boers have a ma- 
jority of the members of the House, but as no laws can be 
passed without the concurrence of the Senate, the Legislation 
must be satisfactory to the English. The present Governor is 
Lord Gladstone, son of the late Premier of England. There 
are many serious problems for the Parliament of South Africa 
to solve, one of the most important of these is the care, regu- 
lation, education and direction of the negro race. The pro- 
portion of negroes being about fifteen to one of the whites. 
The increase of the negroes is very rapid, compared to the 
whites, and the relative number will continually be getting 
greater. Formerly this increase was kept somewhat in check 
by the continual warfare of the different tribes, but since the 
English govern the country these wars are not permitted, and 
their numbers are rapidly increasing. 



149 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




SOUTH AFRICA NATIVES 



In some parts of Africa where the natives have been civ- 
ihzed and enhghtened, it is claimed that there is much discus- 
sion on the subject of "Africa for the Africans." It has been, 
stated that the negroes emigrating from the United States 
to Africa are preaching this doctrine. There are only about 
one and one-half millions of whites in all South Africa, not in- 
cluding British East Africa and West Africa. They could 
not hold this country if the millions of natives were armed, 
educated and had a leader who could hold the various factions 
together, a condition which is not likely to occur in a thousand 
years. 

In the study of geography in our boyhood school days 
we were taught something about the nations being uncivil- 
ized, half civilized, civilized and enlightened, and we confess 
that we never realized what these terms really meant, until 
coming on this trip, and here w^e have seen all the above men- 
tioned grades of humanity. 

There is much complaint in South Africa about the scar- 
city of labor. The natives, as a rule, will not work unless 
compelled to do so, and it has been suggested that the white 
man has similar ideas. The native has as many wives as he 
can buy, and they do all the W'Ork, building their huts, plant- 
ing and raising the few crops that are really needed, and the 
man is simply "The Lord of all Creation." He has no desire 
to create a fortune for the use of his family after he is gone. 
"Why should he work"? The only incentive which makes a 
portion of them work is to get money to buy cattle, 
which they can trade for wives. The price of a wife is three 
cows, and that has kept the prices of cattle high. We are 
told that cows are w-orth from twenty-five to thirty-five dol- 
lars per head in Central Africa. About two hundred thousand 
native men are employed in the mines here, and these are 
drawn from all parts of East and South Africa. That of 
course, has something to do with the scarcity of labor. Form- 

iSi 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




MADEIRA 

erly the gold mines on the Rand were worked by Chinese labor, 
brought here on contract, to be returned to China when their 
contracts expired. The home government in England raised 
an objection to this and the Chinese laborers were sent home. 
The native now does this work to the detriment of the farmer, 
who needs more help. 

After nine days very delightfully spent in Cape Town 
we sailed for London. 



MADEIRA 



Madeira was our only stop on our voyage from Cape 
Town to London, of seventeen days, and we only stopped 
there a few hours to get the mail and take on coal and water. 
It was a pleasant break in the long journey, as Madeira is one 
of the beautiful and quaint places. We saw but few changes 
since we were here a few years ago. The island belongs to 
the Portuguese and they are not progressive, and do not keep 
the city in sanitary condition. From the steamer the view is 
fine, as the mountains are about four thousand feet high 
and form a beautiful background to the city, which is scat- 
tered along the water's edge and half way up the mountain 
side. 

On landing we took the ordinary ox sled, which is most 
commonly used here, and were conveyed through the town to 
the cog railway station, where we boarded the little train, 
which consists of a small cog locomotive behind one coach, 
which carries fifty people. In a quarter of an hour we were 
pushed half way up the mountain to a hotel, where we enjoyed 
our breakfast. The air is invigorating at this elevation, two 

153 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




MADEIRA 

thousand feet, and the view over the bay and city is beautiful. 
Being situated in latitude thirty-three degrees north, the vege- 
tation and flowers looked lovely to us, after having been on 
the sea for thirteen days. After enjoying this scene for a 
short time we engaged a sled and two native guides and coast- 
ed down the mountain side for two miles. Time, ten minutes, 
which was "going some" over the narrow roadway, paved 
with smooth, round pebbles. That is a great amusement that 
we have never heard of in any other place but Madeira, to 
coast down the mountain on sleds without .snow. While our 
steamer was anchored in the harbor we were continually sur- 
rounded by native Portuguese, in their small boats, begging" 
us to throw silver coins in the water to see them dive, and 
they would invariably get the money. Many of them climbed 
to the topmost deck of our steamer, sixty or seventy feet 
above the water and dived into the sea from that great height. 
Madeira is noted for its exports of wnne, hand made embroid- 
ery and willow chairs. It is also a great winter resort for 
the English people. 

On the voyage from Madeira to Southampton, which 
takes four days, we had high seas and a great roll to our 
ship, especiahy while passing through the Bay of Biscay. 
This is generally considered a rough part of the sea. In one 
place the sea was strewn for miles with floating fence posts. 
Evidently a ship had met rough weather and her cargo of 
fence posts had slid off her deck. 



^55 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




EXGLAXD 



After a voyag-e of seventeen days from Cape Town we 
were delighted to arrive in England, and soon boarded the 
train for London. This is the most beautiful season in En- 
gland. All the country is like one great park, clothed with 
greenest vegetation. The well trimmed hedges, the lovely 
country homes and prosperous towns, all looked so charming 
after our long voyage, that we wear a "smile that won't come 
off." To us, London is the most interesting city in the world. 
There is so much of interest to be seen, both old and new. 
We motored out to Windsor Palace through the most beau- 
tiful country along the Thames River, and back through Rich- 
mond Park and Hampton Court. Although this is so near 
London, there are large estates where we saw herds of deer 
and antelope. It was -a holiday and the river was full of pleas- 
ure craft. We drove through avenues of great chestnut trees 
m full bloom, some white and others with the most beautiful 
pmk blossoms, and acres of rhododendrons. Another day we 
took a drive to the old part of the city, to London Bridge, 
the London Tower, through the many streets made memorable 
by Dickens, among which are. Hounds Ditch, Petticoat Lane, 
Thread Needle Street, past the Bank of England, the old Bai- 
ley Prison, the London Library, the British Museum, Trafal- 
gar Square and Piccadilly Circus, etc. We tried the Tupenny 
Tube, and it does not compare with out subway in New York. 
We entered by an elevator which dropped us down about 
ninety feet. This tube is only wide enough for one train, and 
that is a very close fit, which, with the great depth below the 
surface, makes one feel very shut in and stuffy. There are 
very few surface car lines in London, and no elevated ones. 
Most of the street transportation is done by motor busses, 
built large enough to carry twenty passengers inside, and 
twenty on top, and they run everywhere; but the most con- 
venient and agreeable transportation in London is the motor 
taxi cab. There are thousands of them and they are all pol- 

157 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFF^ICA 




NATIVE AND BABOON. 



ENGLAND 

ished and clean, and charge only eight-pence or sixteen cents 
a mile. 

Just opposite our hotel was a new building, the "Royal 
Society of Medicine." It was opened by the King and Queen 
while we were there. As our room on the second story front- 
ed this building we had a fine view of Royalty, as they drove 
up in their carriage. The King and Queen looked exactly 
like their pictures, with whom all are familiar. 

We attended the International Horticultural Exhibition, 
the finest show of the kind since 1864. There were acres of 
flowers, each variety being placed together, and every variety 
of the most superb grown. The roses were as large as cab- 
bages, many of them so large that they looked artificial, and 
the orchids were the finest and greatest variety that was ever 
shown. The vegetables and fruits were also extraordinarily 
fine. It was with regret that we left this great city, as we 
sailed for home on the Cunard Line May 25, 191 2. In going 
to Liverpool, the railway runs through much the most beau- 
tiful pirt (if England, and at this time of the year the country 
looks its best, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

England is a thousand years older than the United States, 
and is a finished country, while ours is still in the making. 
Probably by the time we are as old as England the country 
will be much more beautiful. In crossing the Atlantic, when 
out about a thousand miles, we received the following wireless 
message: "May 27, 1912, Captain of the Campania, greeting: 
You are now communicating with the oldest ship afloat, the 
Australian Convict Ship. 'Success.' formerly known as the 
'Ocean Hell.' We are bound for New York, under our own 
sail, sixteen days out. all well." She will be a great curiosity 
when she arrives in New York. 

Our ship took a new course, two hundred miles south 
of the usual crossing, to avoid icebergs. We did not see any 
ice, but saw many steamers. An oil barge that had five large 
square sails being towed by a steamer. It was the queerest 
ship we have ever seen in mid-ocean, and not the kind of craft 

159 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




COLOBUS MONKEY— CENTRAL AFRICA. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




AFRICAN LEOPARD. 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




SUMMARY 

that we would like to sail on when the sea is rough. We saw 
several whale, and about half the deck of a large steamer that 
passed us quite close. We could not tell to what ship this 
deck had once belonged, but being al^out two hundred miles 
south of where the Titanic sunk, and six weeks since that 
horrible disaster, it might have been part of that unfortunate 
ship. 



SUMMARY. 

After the short \-isit we have made to this \-ast continent, 
from our obser\-ation we would say that we think the soil is 
generally thin and poor. There are but few thick jungles, 
such as are found in the tropics in \A^est Indies or South Am- 
erica, e\en under the equator there are no such great jungles 
of forest as are found in I^razil. While the soil near the 
equator is the best we saw in Africa, and raises good crops, 
it does not ecjual the fertile prairies of our United States. In 
Rhodesia, as well as most of South Africa, in the central 
port of the continent, much of the country is sparsely covered 
with small trees about as large as apple trees, and thin grass; 
this is called "the Veldt," and covers much of Central Africa. 
Along the coast, and for one or two hundred miles inland, 
the soil is better, and here are produced the best crops in 
South Africa, but not equal to those raised in South America, 
West Indies or United States. The rainfall in British East 
Africa is ample, and more than needed for crops, but in nearly 
all of South .Africa is deficient and will prevent its ever being 
a great agricultural country. The weather, of course, is gen- 
erally from warm to hot, yet is suitable for white people in 
nearly all the inland sections where the elevation is usually 
from 4000 t(^ 6000 feet a1)o\'e sea level. The fly pest abides 

163 



OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




SUMMARY 

along some of the low lands near the sea, and some of the in- 
land lakes; in snch places cattle and horses cannot be raised. 
but the donkey and goat will survive. 

These fly infected districts, the wdiite man will du well 
to avoid, and in some sections the negro cannot live until the 
"Tsetse Fly" has been driven out. Another pest is the ants. 
In nearly all parts of Africa where we have been, except the 
extreme southern part, there are ant hills from one to ten feet 
high, in some places more numerous than hay cocks in a 
meadow, and special care must be taken to keep them out of 
the house and out of the food. Most of the upland interi(jr 
is adapted to grazing cattle, horses, sheep and ostriches, and 
large ranches are being established in some sections. \Ve met 
a large cattle raiser who has his ranches two hundred and fifty 
miles north of Victoria Falls, near the Belgian Congo line. 
where he reports that cattle do well after they become ac- 
climated ; he has brought out from England many head of high 
grade breeding stock ; about three quarters of these die be- 
fore they become acclimated, but he is gaining on the quality 
of his cattle, and is now going back to England after more 
thoroughbred cattle. Although the soil and climate seems to 
be well adapted to fruit culture in all parts of the continent, but 
little progress has been made in fruit so far. Oranges are 
small, green and sour, in fact we did not find any good fruit, 
excepting the bananas in British East Africa, until we arrived 
at Cape Town, and there they have fine fruit of all kinds in 
season. The grapes in Cape Colony are extra fine, and that 
section is already a large wine producing country. 

Wild game of all kinds is plenty in nearly all portions 
of Africa, except those places along the coast where the white 
settlers have killed or driven them away : elephants, rhinoceros, 
buffalo, giraffe, zebra, antelope, ostrich, monkeys, baboons, 
lions, leopards, hyenas, etc., and along the water hippopotamus, 
crocodiles and alligators. About three-fourths of all the 
game is of the antelope species, such as the eland, which are 
the largest and w-eigh a thousand pounds when full grown : 

169 



OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA 




OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 







OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA 




SUMMARY 

then the wildebeest which weigh five to se\en hundred pounds, 
and the hartebeest, which weigh three hundred pounds, Grants 
gazelles, Thompson gazelles, even down to the little dik-dik, 
wdiich weigh fifteen pounds or less. All these antelope species 
are good meat for the white man, and the zebra, which come 
next in number, are considered fine meat by the natives. 

Probably the best hunting ground in Africa today is be- 
tween the Belgian Congo and Lake Tanganyiki, about one 
thousand miles north of Victoria Falls; all kinds of African 
game are reported so plenty there that hunting is more like 
shooting sheep than wild animals. 

Africa will undoubtedly get a large immigration from 
Europe for many years to come. It is a very interesting coun- 
try for the traveler who is seeking the strange and unusual, 
and we enjoyed our trip very greatly. However, there is noth- 
ing to induce our peopje to emigrate to that part of the world, 
nor do w'e think that there is a country on the globe that has 
as many advantages and opportunities for the poor man as 
our own United States. We are delighted to get home after 
an absence of four months, having traveled about eighteen 
thousand miles by sea and five thousand by land, around the 
continent and through much of the interior. We never missed 
a connection by steamer or rail, had no accidents or mishaps 
of any kind, did not miss a meal while away, return invigor- 
ated in bodv and min.d, and ready for work : here ends "Our 
Holidav Tn Africa." 



^71 



PRESS OF COMBE PRINTING CO- 
ST. JOSEPH. MO.. U.S.A. 



